Annual Report 2010 - Ministry of Finance and Planning

Ministry of Finance and Planning Sri Lanka > Annual Report 2010Development of High Speed RoadCorridorsThe top priority is given in the mediumterm (2011- 2013) for the completionof the 181km of access controlledtoll expressway between Matara andKatunayake. The 128km four laneSouthern Expressway will be completedin 2011. The 100km/hr design speedColombo – Katunayake Expresswayis expected to be completed in 2012.Construction work of the 28km OuterCircular Highway, which connectsthe Southern Expressway and theColombo – Katunayake Expressway,was commenced in 2009 and will becompleted by 2013. Along the highway,three townships i.e. Kadawatta,Kaduwela and Kottawa, will emerge asouter Colombo cities. During the lastsix years, around Rs. 79,497 million hasbeen spent on construction of theseexpressways of which Rs. 58,150 millionwas foreign financing.Enhancement of Rural - UrbanLinkage through Provincial RoadsOne of the fast track developmentinitiatives in the regions is theimprovement of inter and intraprovincial connectivity. All provincialroads are to be developed tostandard level with the paralleldevelopment of national roads.Identified provincial roads willbe upgraded to national roads toconnect the missing link of thegrid shaped trunk road network.Rural roads around 2000km thathave been carefully selected will beimproved and added to the provincialroad network to ease the accessibilitybetween the urban and rural areas.Further, provincial roads whichconnect nationally important placessuch as heritage archaeologicalsites, economic development zones,tourism destinations and inter districtbus routes are being rehabilitated onpriority basis. During the 2005 – 2010period, around 1,706km of provincialroads, which are feeder roadsto national highways, have beenrehabilitated.Increased Rural AccessibilityThe Maga Naguma, the nationalrural road upgrading programmethat was initiated to enhanceconnectivity has completed 8,300km of rural roads during 2005 -2010. In addition, approximately4,400km of rural roads have beenupgraded under the Gama NegumaProgramme. The target is toupgrade 50 percent of rural roadconnectivity by 2015. Half of thetarget has been already achievedby 2010.Dedicated Funds for SustainableRoad MaintenanceThe demand for funds for the roadsector, for both development andmaintenance is huge. The benefitsthat could be obtained from theamount of money invested on roadnetwork improvement have beeneroded over the years due to thelack of road maintenance. Therefore,the Road Maintenance Trust Fund(RMTF), the focal mechanism forroad maintenance, was establishedin 2006. Accordingly, nationalroad maintenance funds have beenchanneled through the RMTF since2006.Table 1.15 > Provincial Road DevelopmentProvinceRehabilitatedRoads (km)RehabilitationOngoing (km)Central 142 169Eastern - 245Northern - 217North Central 176 220North Western 217 -Sabaragamuwa 162 181Southern 610 -Uva 194 129Western 205 -Table 1.16 > Rural Road DevelopmentProgramme 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010Maga731 2,284 1,202 1,640 1,592 854NegumaGama- 1,473 1,812 4,605 1,540 1,956NegumaTotal 731 3,757 3,014 6,245 3,132 2,810Source: Ministry of Ports and Highways and Ministry of EconomicDevelopmentSource: Ministry of Local Government and Provincial Councils55