Presidential directive:

Sangupitiya bridge to be completed

President Mahinda Rajapaksa yesterday directed the Highways Ministry to complete reconstruction work on the Sangupitiya bridge damaged due to terrorism by December this year.

The Sangupitiya bridge connects Pooneryn with Jaffna. The President also directed Ministry officials to accelerate construction work on the Southern expressway and complete it by 2011.

The President issued these directives at a meeting held with officials of the Highways Ministry at Temple Trees to discuss certain problems and issue which had cropped during a progress review meeting of the Northern Province Development Committee chaired by him at the Vanni Security Forces headquarters recently, said a media release by the President's Media Division.