Annual Report 2010 - Ministry of Finance and Planning

1 | DEVELOPMENT PERSPECTIVESThe increased investment on roadsector has been distributed at all levelsof government i.e. National, Provincialand Local levels to establish necessaryconnectivity in urban and ruraltransportation.The share of investment on localroads has increased from 4 percent oftotal road investments in 2005 to 15percent in 2010 due to the upgradingof rural roads under Maga Negumaand Gama Neguma Programmes.During the last six year period,approximately Rs. 43 billion has beenspent on provincial road developmentwhich was 9 percent of the total roadsector investment. During 2005 –2010, investment in national roadshas raised from Rs. 13 billion to Rs. 82billion. In 2010, 76 percent of the totalinvestment on road sector has beenutilized for national road development.Improvement of the ExistingNational RoadsNational roads are less than 12 percentof the entire road network of thecountry but they carry about 80percent of the country’s traffic. Thelength of the total road network hasnot been growing adequately to meetthe demand for speedy and efficienttransportation of passengers andgoods.Therefore, since 2005, a massiveinvestment plan, which includeslong term foreign financing for theimprovement of existing inter regionaltrunk roads and construction ofexpressways has been implemented.Within the next five year period, agrid-shaped trunk road network willbe developed between the Provincial/Regional capitals while maintainingthe 60 percent of the national roadnetwork at a good condition. During2005 – 2010, around 2,900km ofTable 1.13 > Structure of Roads/Traffic DistributionRoads Maintained byLength(km)As a % ofTotalTrafficCarried(%)Road Development Authority 11,922 10.6 75.0Provincial Councils 15,743 14.0 15.0Local Authorities 80,600 71.4 10.0Other State Agencies 4,500 4.0Total 112,765 100.0 100.0Source:Department of National Budget, Ministry of Ports and Highwaysnational roads have been improvedat a cost of Rs. 48,950 million. Thelist of improved segments of the corenational roads is given in Table 1.14.Efforts are being made to bringaround 59 percent of the existingnational road network from singleor intermediate lane to multiple lanestandards. Approximately 2,315km ofroads were widened to multiple lanestandards with heavy compensationpayment involved for land acquisition.The lane width will be increased inanother 2,556km of roads to caterto the growing traffic demand of amiddle income country. In order tominimize the land acquisition cost dueto widening of road sections in majorPannipitiya have been constructedin Colombo City and suburbanareas. Six ferries have been replacedwith new bridges in the Easternand Western Provinces making thepassenger and goods transportationmore efficient, to boost the localeconomic activities. During thisperiod, a total of around 375 bridgeshave been constructed while 116bridges are being constructed.Investment on construction ofbridges and flyovers has increasedfrom Rs. 323 million in 2005 to Rs.3,722 million in 2010. The detailsof the development of bridges andflyovers undertaken are given in thepage 56.towns to reduce traffic congestion,by-passes and under passes areconstructed in many urban areas.The improvement programme, whichwas predominately implementedusing domestic resources, has beenincreased from Rs. 2.5 billion in 2005to Rs. 8.9 billion in 2010.Outer circular roads are beingconstructed in growth centres suchas Trincomalee, Kandy, Anuradhapuraand Kurunegala to support businessactivities. Further, in order tostimulate economic and socialprosperity to emerge with peace inthe North and East, many nationalGreater attention has been drawn toease the traffic congestion at majorjunctions by construction of flyovers,and reconstruction of narrowand weak bridges with new ones.During the 2005 - 2010 period, fivemajor flyovers at Kelaniya, Nugegoda,Dehiwela, Orugodawatta, andhighways and major bridges arecurrently being reconstructed andcore national roads and bridgeswill be improved within the nextfive year period. Financing for theconstruction of 512km roads in theNorth has been raised from bilateraland multilateral agencies in 2010.52