Chief Government Whip Highways Minister Johnston Fernando said that road networks of Colombo and other main cities in every district would be developed by integrating and redesigning them using latest technology to make the traffic jams a thing of the past.
Addressing a meeting held at the Ministry on Thursday (12), the minister said that with the number of vehicles keep increasing day by day, roads of the main cities have become congested and traffic police overtaxed with work. In a breather for the motorists, pedestrians and police personnel a new project would be introduced to end traffic jams by managing the flows of vehicles by introducing new entry points and alternative routes with new roads in and around the main cities. The new project would be introduced first in the cities of Colombo, Kandy, Gampaha, Galle and Kurunegala, the minister said, adding that it would be gradually introduced to the other main cities in every district. A recent research by the experts in the University of Moratuwa has revealed that from 2008-2018, the number of buses increased by 36 percent and the number of other vehicles increased by 130 per cent in the country. We incur massive financial and man-hour loss due to traffic congestion as a result of no proper vehicular traffic in Greater Colombo areas and it has been estimated to be over Rs 32 billion per annum. Our country is losing 1.5 percent of the GDP due to traffic congestion. Our road network in the city is not capable of handling increasing traffic flows. We have identified nine main routes coming to Colombo and suburbs for the first stage’s development. Similarly 15 such roads in and around Gampaha city, 12 roads in Kandy and eight roads in and around Galle would also be developed to solve the traffic congestion in those cities. In addition two new bridges would be built across the Ittepana and Madu Ganga rivers to end traffic congestion in Galle by introducing an alternative route. In order to end traffic congestion in Kurunegala city an alternative route would be constructed while developing the outer-circle road and introducing flyovers at Yangalmodera, Alawwa, Mahawa and Muththettugala,” the Minister said.
He said that people of Colombo and surrounding areas always curse the traffic congestion that makes their lives almost impossible. They also blame the government for its failure to tackle the issue head-on. The new project will put an end to those grievances while increasing productivity in the meantime saving money, the minister said.
Among those present were Secretary to the Ministry of Highways R. W. R. Pemasiri, Chairman of the Road Development Authority Chaminda Athaluwage, Director General of RDA Sardha Weerakoon and top officials of
