Annual Report 2008 - Ministry of Finance and Planning

2. Fiscal Developments - 2008
104
Box 2.6
Randora: Road Development Endeavor Contd.
Challenges
Continuous increase of investment clearly reveals that the
government has given high priority of investment n roads.
However, the road network in Sri Lanka is grossly inadequate
in various aspects.
• Lack of coordination among implementing
agencies causing overlapping & duplication of road
development.
• Inadequate capacity of implementing agencies and
contractors with cost overruns.
• Insufficient funds for maintenance and improvement of
the quality of the road network
• Low capacity of highways and lack of expressways
have caused high traffic density at many places and has
deprived riding quality and safety.
• Lack of planning to develop roads as an integral part of
transport system.
Water Supply and Sanitation
Access to safe water and adequate sanitation is considered
as an inevitable pre-requisite for overall economic and
social development of the country, thus making its provision
a top priority of the investment portfolio. Although by
now 85 per cent of population has access to safe drinking
water, there are wide disparities evident across districts.
Sewerage services are available only in urban areas, mainly
in and around Colombo. A significant progress has been
made over the past few years in improving access to pipe
borne water supply in urban areas. However, improving the
access to safe water and adequate sanitation remains a
challenge in certain villages, estates and conflict-affected
areas in the North and East. Meanwhile, the functioning
of several townships as regional growth centers as well as
service centers had to be facilitated through establishing
proper water supply and sewerage systems. Understanding
of this situation subsequently resulted in giving priority to
implement projects targeting population outside Colombo
including major townships, secondary towns and rural
villages.
Ministry of Finance and Planning Sri Lanka
Annual Report 2008