Time to take a drive

SRI LANKA opens its first highway tomorrow. This is a landmark event in many ways and shows the pros as well as cons of the development process in Sri Lanka. Just a cursory glance at the funding and executing of the Southern Highway shows the myriad of assistance partners Sri Lanka has and how they have changed from the traditional Western alliances.

The funding for the highway was a complicated and long-drawn-out process with the initial US$ 341 million ending up at US$ 815 million. The final breakdown released by the ADB shows the Japanese Government funded US$ 375 million, ADB US$ 250 million and China Exim Bank US$ 190 million.

ADB’s original loan from its Asian Development Fund (ADF) resources was approved by the Board on 25 November 1999 for SDR 64,856,000 (or $ 90 million) to cover the construction of two-lane access control highway from Kurundugahahathakma to Godagama with the provision of later expanding into six-lane expressway. 

The Design Report of the original project indicates that, to maintain a level of service of an intercity highway, the project would need to be upgraded four lanes after 2010. Therefore, the proposal to upgrade the highway was considered to be more cost and resource efficient. The proposal for the expansion to a four-lane highway was accepted by ADB and JICA.

To accommodate the expansion from a two-lane to a four-lane highway and the cost overrun, in respect to the construction of the original two-lane highway, ADB processed a supplementary loan (L 2413) amounting to $ 90 million in 2008. However, at the same time, the ADB-funded scope of work was restructured to cover a four-lane of only the first 30km of the ADB section. As such, the balance work in the section from Pinnaduwa to Godagama (Section-IV), which is about 30 km, is funded by the Export and Import Bank of China.

These changes meant that the amount of compensation paid to a total of 1,359 families as well as other damages was a whopping US$ 46 million, making it the highest payment in Sri Lanka’s history. One of the lessons that can be learned from this project is that clear, precise and time-bound development plans are needed to prevent overruns.

The political millage from the highway is significant and the Government has already made good effort of it by planning five official openings by the President and many more fringe events, including face painting. However, warnings have already been issued over the safety of drivers with the Sri Lanka Institute of Transport and Logistics pointing out that safety lanes and bends in the road are too narrow. It has called on the Government to reduce the official speed from 100 kmph to 80 kmph to prevent fatal accidents. Training of drivers and having adequate safety as well as Police controls will be the main challenges during the first few months of operation.

The Government has already outlined plans to extend the highway to Matara and from there to Hambantota, with construction expected to kick off in 2016. Many analysts expect the extension to happen with Chinese funding, but that will be proved in time. Even though the highway underscores the development given by political stability and peace, it also hints at the challenges ahead since these investments must make returns and Sri Lanka is still grappling with corruption and wastage issues.

For the moment people are content to sit back and enjoy the ride as President Rajapaksa’s regime makes maximum use of the highway for bragging rights.