SL’s longest elevated Expressway to be opened after successful debt restructuring soon

Links Colombo Port, Colombo Port City, Galle Face to Peliyagoda:
Built with US$ 300 Mn assistance from ADB:

Sri Lanka’s longest viaduct, the Port Access Elevated Highway (PAEH), directly linking the Colombo Harbour, Colombo Port City (CPC) and Galle Face to Ingurukade junction, Peliyagoda, will open in October 2024.

The PAEH, constructed on piers, in an environmentally friendly manner, was executed under a loan of US$ 300 million from the Asian Development Bank.

The Project commenced in 2019, and scheduled to be completed in 2023, is 5.3 km long, and has four lanes.

Transport, Highways and Mass Media Minister Dr. Bandula Gunawardhana inspected the construction site yesterday. He told the media that a new chapter has been created in Sri Lanka’s highway history with the construction of the PAEH. From CPC, the highway will connect to Marine Drive through the proposed tunnel, without interfering with the beauty of Galle Face. It will take only 4 minutes to travel from the Galle Face to Peliyagoda, via the PAEH.

As the New Kelani Bridge will directly connect to the Colombo-Katunayake Expressway on the north side, and extend to Orugodawatta intersection on the south side, connecting with the PAEH. This will provide a permanent solution to the severe traffic congestion in Colombo city.

The leading construction company for the project was China Civil Engineering Construction Corporation (CCECC). The ADB continued to provide financial support for this project even during the Covid period. That is why we have been able to complete work as scheduled.

A new flyover constructed with financial support from the Hungarian government, was commissioned on Tuesday (16). We also expect to commence work shortly on a new flyover in Gatembe in Kandy, with financial assistance from the Hungarian government.

A loan of Rs 800 billion has been obtained for the construction of highways. But annual revenue from the highways is only Rs.5 billion. Hence, it will take nearly 160 years to repay the debt from this annual revenue.

Sri Lankan Engineers and workers made up 70% of the manpower used for this project and they were privy to the latest technology through this project. This project will greatly help in the development of Colombo Harbour. As container freight traffic will have a new entrance, the congestion on roads mainly around Orugodawatta, Baseline Road and surrounding areas will be significantly reduced.

We also intend conducting a workshop to educate Engineering undergrads, Engineering stream A/L students and the general public, on July 24 at Cinnamon Lakeside, to educate them on the latest Technology used in this project. Project Director Wimal Kandambi said this highway was constructed according to the method of PreCast Box Girder segments, which is a new Technology in Sri Lanka’s highways history. Around 3,279 segments have been installed for the whole project.

Transport, Highways and Mass Media Ministry Secretary Ranjith Rubasinghe said steps should be taken to increase interest among Sri Lanka’s Engineers on the latest Technology used in this project, to obtain their servics for future development projects, instead of foreigners. Multi-lane Free Flow Electronic Toll Collection system (MLFF-ETC) will be introduced to this highway for the first time, for the convenience of the users.

CCECC General Manager Xu Yunxiang said the construction work was continued despite the Covid outbreak and that is why the entire project was completed as scheduled.

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