Kelani River Sri Lanka. Pic: Dunnock D
A bridge costing some US$321 million will be built in Sri Lanka to span the Kelani River. This new link will reduce congestion at Baseline Road and in the area of Peliyagoda. The bridge is expected to take three years to construct and will measure 415m long. The project is being funded by the 2416 Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA), which is also funding the design detail and feasibility studies. Meanwhile the 943 Asian Development Bank (ADB) has approved credit $75 million for the construction of roads linking to Sri Lanka's first expressway, which stretches from Colombo the South of the country. Most of the loan will be spent on building 33.5km of national highways. These are the 14.4km Kesbawa-Pokunuwita road, the 2.1km Kirulapona-Homagama road, the 12.4km Southern Expressway-Mathugama road, the 2.1km Ratmalana-Mirihana road and the 2.5km Moratuwa-Piliyandala road. In addition the Road Development Authority is carrying out a feasibility study for national highways stretching over 250km and engineering designs for national highways stretching over some 200 m as well as financing a long-term expressway connectivity plan. According to ADB, estimates show that Sri Lanka's road capacity will have to be increased by two fold in every eight to 10-year period in order to cater to growing demand.
