Master plan to make Colombo move smarter

Thursday, 18 October 2012 00:45 - - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}

By Uditha Jayasinghe

A crucial master plan to improve Colombo’s transportation system to world standards with the assistance of Japanese funding was launched yesterday.

Transport Ministry Secretary Dhammika Perera told a transport sector forum yesterday that approval has been given to the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA), the largest bilateral organization in the world, to compile the master plan for future urban transport development. He emphasised that this was necessary given the economic boom that was expected after the end of the war in 2009.

“JICA has come forward to compile the master plan through a grant provided by them. We are looking at a mixed transport system including metro and mono trains as well as luxury bus services. The development is staggered in line with the projected per capita income of the country,” he said.

His statements were echoed by Transport Minister Kumara Welgama who welcomed the proposal and stressed that they were already working towards improving the capital’s transport system.

The ambitious master plan includes survey data that will be used to identify a new core public transportation mode, transport corridors and connection with existing transport systems.

The study will consist of a large number of surveys to obtain current data of travel requirements as well as traffic conditions. Around 45,000-50,000 households within the Western Province has been selected on a random basis for the survey. This process has already begun.

The study is conducted under JICA’s technical cooperation assistance and is provided on the basis of a grant. Feasibility analysis for the identified core transport mode would be also included in the study. JICA is planning to finance the implementation of the core project with a concessionary Official Development Assistance loan depending on the study outcome.

The plan preparation is expected to be completed by April 2013 while appraisal for financing of core transport modes is tabled for December next year. However it will be at least April 2014 before the implementation of the core transport system begins.

According to Government data 60 per cent of Sri Lanka’s population use public transport that is badly maintained and sporadic. However the Government hopes to use loans to fund infrastructure development as it has been doing during the post-war period. No amounts were mentioned at the forum but the number is expected to be high.