‘Urban transport master plan soon’
Irangika RANGE
The implementation of the Urban Transport System Development project
for the Colombo Metropolitan Region and suburbs (COMTrans) will result
in the rapid development in urban goods and passenger transport sector
in Colombo city and the suburbs, Transport Minister Kumara Welgama said.
The minister was addressing a workshop for creating an awareness
among key stakeholder agencies about the on-going urban transport master
plan study for the Colombo metropolitan region organized by the
Transport Ministry, in collaboration with Japan International
Cooperation Agency (JICA) in Colombo yesterday.
“We have identified the need of a well-regulated, modern transport
sector to achieve and sustain rapid economic development as clearly
envisioned by President Mahinda Rajapaksa in outlining the macro
development policy framework for Sri Lanka,” he said.
In pursuing these goals, we have initiated this project with the
technical collaboration of JICA. The project seeks to integrate the
transport system with a view to greatly enhance our national
productivity,” he said.
“The study aims to identify the optimum methods of resolving traffic
congestion and transport difficulties faced by the public in Colombo
city and suburbs. It will review present conditions, on going
developments and future plans to identify short and mid term measures to
improve the existing transport system and in the long term to establish
a new mode of transport as the core system to fulfill the growing public
and corporate mobility needs.
“The study will consist of a number of surveys to obtain current data
of travel requirements and traffic conditions. The largest of these is a
person-trip survey in the Colombo metropolitan region.
This survey is expected to commence in November this year and
cooperation of public is requested in providing their information to
ensure that the master plan is formulated considering the public
priorities and requirements.
“The survey data will be used to formulate the urban transport master
plan for the Colombo metropolitan region, which includes identification
of a new core public transportation mode, transport corridors and
connection with existing transport systems.
JICA is planing to finance the implementation of the identified core
transport system with a concessionary official development assistance
loan depending on the study outcome,” the minister said.
Transport Ministry Secretary Dhammika Perera said this master plan
comprises of a mix of transport systems, including underground, mono,
light and conventional rail together with a BRTmix.
Each component will be implemented in a staggered manner where the
implementation time-line will match the per capita income of the nation.
“Globally, the average government revenue is 15% of the country GDP
of which the recurrent expenditure of the transport sector is
approximately 0.15 - 0.22% of the DGP. This is an average of 1-1.5% from
the government revenue.
Once we develop on this master plan, we will be looking to match this
global benchmark at every level of implementation,” he added.
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