Minister Dr. Bandula orders swift construction of temporary flyover

Minister Dr. Bandula Gunawardhana has instructed officials to quickly construct and complete the temporary passenger flyover at Bambalapitiya railway station in place of the dilapidated passenger flyover.

The State Development and Design Corporation has started the construction of a temporary access bridge until a new flyover is built to replace the dilapidated passenger flyover at Bambalapitiya railway station.

The iron wire used for the pillars of this passenger flyover, which was built some time ago, has deteriorated over time due to reasons including sea erosion and the bridge has now become dilapidated.

After completing the construction of the temporary bridge in a short period of time, work is currently underway to complete the construction of a new flyover at this place.

Recently, the construction of this temporary access bridge, which is being done according to the instructions given by President Ranil Wickremesinghe, was specially observed by Transport, Highways and Mass Media Minister Dr. Bandula Gunawardhana.

The Minister observed the condition of the existing passenger flyover and the premises around the railway station.

Minister Gunawardhana speaking on the occasion said: “There are about 30 dangerous bridges in Sri Lanka that have fallen into disrepair. Two years ago, officials of the Railway Department, the Road Development Authority and the State Development and Design Corporation duly identified the condition of the existing passenger flyover at Bambalapitiya railway station. Some time ago, the necessary plans for its reconstruction had been prepared, but due to the subsequent Covid pandemic and the economic crisis in the country, there was no provision to use it for any development work. Due to this, the reconstruction work of 30 bridges across Sri Lanka, including this bridge, has stalled. All road development activities have stopped. Financial assistance from other financial aid agencies including the Asian Development Bank has stopped. The reason is that foreign countries and organisations do not agree to provide any loan amount until the foreign loans taken so far are restructured.

“Every government has taken large amounts of foreign loan assistance for all the development activities and infrastructures carried out in the country. But at present, all these activities have stalled in a situation where foreign loan assistance is not available.

“But due to the special danger of this bridge, the President has allocated a special financial provision for this purpose. We hope to construct a temporary bridge as soon as possible by making maximum use of the available resources of the Railway Department and the State Development and Design Corporation, followed by the construction of two permanent bridges for Wellawatta and Bambalapitiya railway stations within the next year.

“By the end of this year, after debt restructuring, we have a planned programme to be launched to somehow completely restore all bridges that are currently used in highly risky conditions throughout Sri Lanka by 2024.

“Until then, we have given instructions to the engineers in charge of the construction to complete the construction of this temporary bridge in a very short period of time.”

State Development and Design Statutory Corporation Chairman Kushan Devinda, Railway Department officials and others joined this observation tour.

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