Daily News Editorial

Roads to development

 

01 September 2016

Rajagiriya, the main city of the Sri Jayawardhanapura administrative capital, is well known for its traffic congestion at virtually any time of the day. With arterial roads radiating from Rajagiriya to Nawala, Borella, Battaramulla, Pita Kotte and Gothatuwa, it is a traffic nightmare for motorists as well as Police. Apart from a newly constructed wider bridge over the Diyawanna Oya, Police have been experimenting on and off with various measures such as opening a lane on the other side depending on the time of day, one-way schemes and turning the traffic lights off and controlling traffic manually. None of these offered a way out of the gridlock, which costs time, energy and money for motorists, bus passengers and even pedestrians.

Although the previous Government vowed to build a flyover at Rajagiriya to ease traffic congestion under the infamous “200 bridges and flyovers programme”, only a few were actually built around seven years ago, including those at Nugegoda and Dehiwala. The proposed flyovers at Rajagiriya and Havelock Town fell by the wayside. In hindsight, the sheer amount of traffic at Rajagiriya would have been a massive strain on the type of steel flyover constructed at Dehiwala and Nugegoda. In fact, heavy vehicles are not allowed on the Dehiwala flyover which is more suited for lighter traffic.

Rajagiriya had to endure traffic woes for some more years, but now it is getting a much better deal – a multi-lane, concrete flyover costing Rs.4.3 billion designed to drastically reduce traffic congestion and cut travel times at least by half. Work on the massive project started yesterday. Granted, there will be traffic chaos for the next 16 months until construction of one flyover bridge is completed, but it is well worth the wait.

Built with Spanish aid and expertise and fully overseen by the Road Development Authority (RDA), the 533 metre long flyover will consist of two parallel bridges with two lanes on each bridge. It will be constructed in two phases from Battaramulla to Borella along the new Parliament Road. According to the RDA, the first phase of the flyover is to be completed by November 2017. Under the second phase another two lane flyover will be constructed in parallel to the first flyover. It will be completed by December 2018. Most motorists would have ideally wished for an extension all the way to the Airport Expressway entrance at Peliyagoda, but this is a good start that can point the way to bigger things.

In the meantime, the RDA has advised motorists to avoid the Welikada Junction in Rajagiriya if possible and use alternative routes as there will be heavy traffic congestion in this area due to the construction. For example, motorists travelling to Nawala can take the Borella-Narahenpita-Nawala road. While building and widening roads is essential to control traffic, it is even more prudent to build better public transport links that could take some cars off the road. Indeed, the Western Province Megapolis Plan calls for such Light Rail Transit (LRT) projects on highly congested traffic corridors such as Malabe-Colombo.

The Rajagiriya flyover is not the only such project currently underway. Two more flyovers are being constructed in Ganemulla and Polgahawela, also with Spanish assistance, to reduce congestion mainly caused by the railway crossings. The two projects, estimated to cost Rs 4 billion, are expected to be completed this year.

The Government is also going ahead with the Central Expressway from Colombo to Kandy, which is due to be extended to Dambulla. Work is already underway. A new 74 Km expressway called Ruwanpura Expressway is to be built from the Kahathuduwa Interchange of the Southern Expressway to Pelmadulla, to provide faster (just 45 minutes) access to Ratnapura. The Southern Expressway itself is being extended to Hambantota in line with the Government’s plans to make the region a shipping and aviation hub. The Outer Circular Highway too is being extended. Apart from expressways, the Government is going ahead with other major infrastructure projects such as the Colombo International Financial City.

All these projects negate the allegations spread by the Joint Opposition and certain other politicians that the National Unity Government had neglected infrastructure and other forms of development such as power projects. This is far from the truth – in the initial stages, the Government had to probe the expressway and other deals signed by the previous Government for any financial irregularities and also ensure that there is no room for corruption in any future project. It was found that many road projects initiated by the former Government had a “corruption element” sometimes reflected through cost overruns.

There should also be a bigger focus on rural development. There is nothing wrong with building a jogging track in an urban area, but almost every TV news bulletin has a story about a remote village which lacks even a basic road. These lacunae in development must be identified and corrective action taken so that the fruits of development can be shared equally among all Sri Lankans.