Have we passed the railway crossing?

The Japanese Government agreed to revive the Colombo-Malabe light rail project in December, more than two years after it was abruptly halted by then Presidential Secretary P.B. Jayasundara. The design of the project was planned to begin in July 2019, with construction to be finished by the end of 2024. 

The Malabe line is one of seven corridors that span from Colombo to Negombo, Kandy, Kaduwela, Malabe, Kottawa, Piliyandala and Moratuwa. The seven pathways were designated as part of the Western Region Megapolis Transport Master Plan (TMP), which was finalised in November 2016 during the previous Ranil-Sirisena administration, with Champika Ranawaka serving as Megapolis Minister.

The Malabe line, which would have covered 16 kilometres and contained 16 stops, was to be funded by a soft credit deal with the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA), which would cover 80% of the 2.2 billion dollar project cost. Following the November 2019 Presidential election, the Rajapaksa Government acquired a 30 billion yen concessionary loan from Japan for the project. 

The Rajapaksas’ abruptly decided to abandon the project in September 2020, reportedly to avoid Champika Ranawaka and possibly seek other business avenues with guaranteed benefits.

The consultants began working in early 2019. Their contract with the Ministry of Megapolis is for seven years and includes detailed design and related engineering services, procurement support, construction supervision, testing and commissioning, and defect liability check. 

In September 2020, however, Presidential Secretary P.B. Jayasundera instructed the Transport Ministry Secretary to terminate the JICA-funded LRT as it was very costly and not the appropriate cost-effective transport solution for the urban Colombo transportation infrastructure.

Transportation infrastructure development is a never-ending process that necessitates time, resources and supportive institutions. There is no magic wand answer to transportation in general and especially to urban transit. Countries with limited resources should be project-ready in order to take advantage of financial options for project execution. 

For no logical or sensible reason, Sri Lanka walked away from the 480 million dollar MCC grant offered by the US Government. This perhaps could have been used to upgrade 130 roadway junctions in Colombo and implement transit priority measures and cancelled the agreement with Japan to implement the Malabe LRT line in one year, 2020.According to a report compiled by the National Audit Office, Sri Lanka lost nearly Rs. 6 billion due to the previous Government’s unilateral cancellation of the Light Rail Transit (LRT) project, which was started with Japanese loan assistance with the goal of reducing traffic congestion in Colombo and providing a better transport service to passengers. 

The National Audit Office (NAO) has shown that the Government’s decision to terminate the Light Rail Transit (LRT) project in 2020 resulted in a waste of Rs. 10.6 billion. According to the NAO, at the time the Government decided to cancel the project, multiple parties had spent the above-mentioned amount.

The Auditor General has suggested that, while submitting its observations on the Cabinet Memoranda, the Treasury makes every effort to give impartial professional observations that go beyond supporting the actions requested by the Memoranda. These findings are presented in a special audit report on the Japanese light rail project produced by the Auditor General's Department in November 2022. 

JICA was issued a letter saying the project was cancelled owing to a change of priorities with no mention of it being too costly. And while the Government said it would implement the LRT as a public-private partnership (PPP) – there are three other LRT lines they can use this model for – there’s been little movement on this front since JICA funding was called off.