Govt. to travel 3rd stage of Central Expressway with Taisei Corp

By Ashwin Hemmathagama

The Government has decided to award the contract for the third stage of the Central Expressway to the Taisei Corporation. 

The agreement will be inked next week, Minister of Higher Education and Highways and Leader of the House of Parliament Lakshman Kiriella said yesterday.

He assured that the Government followed the tender procedures and maintained the highest transparency standards in all matters pertaining to the Central Expressway, which will be funded by the Government of Japan. “The agreement will be with Taisei Corporation. But Taisei will distribute the project works with Fujita Corporation as a result of a request we received through the Embassy of Japan. As far as the Government is concerned, we have negotiated to sign the agreement with Taisei for Rs. 134.9 billion and the construction work is to be completed within five years. An Indian firm has come forward expressing its willingness to engage in the fourth stage, which will be connecting Galagedara and Kandy,” explained Minister Kiriella.

According to Minister Kiriella, local contractors lack the technical expertise to build roads of such high standards on different terrain. “The expressway runs through five districts over different land conditions. The local contractors have no experience building roads on these diverse geographies including the three tunnels and sometimes the highway on pillars at a height exceeding 20 feet. Also, it was a condition laid by the Japanese that the construction should be awarded to a Japanese company. The particular bid received the approval of the Economic Committee, which is headed by Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe, and also the approval of the Cabinet, which is led by President Maithripala Sirisena. So there is no shady business in this contract as professed by certain parties with malicious intents,” he said.

With the completion of the Central Expressway that runs through the Gampaha, Kurunegala, Kegalle, Matale and Kandy districts, the Government expects a considerable boost in the national economy. “Unlike the Rajapaksa regime, we maintained transparency. Instead of obtaining Cabinet approval directly to award the project to a preselected contractor the Unity Government called for tenders. The Rajapaksa regime did not call for tenders for the Southern Expressway or the Katunayake Expressway,” he added.

The Central Expressway is a key road project in the country, spanning over four stages. The first stage will be from Kadawatha to Meerigama over 37.1 km, the second stage will be from Meerigama to Kurunegala over 76.8 km and the Ambepussa link road of 9.3 km. The third stage of the Central Expressway is to begin from Pothuhera and to finish in Galagedara spanning over 32.5 km spreading through an elevation of 300-1,200 feet. The road will cross mountain terrain through three tunnels, 14 long bridges and almost over five kilometres will be built on pillars.