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Proposal for foreign company to run expressways
View(s):The Government is considering a proposal to hand over the management and operation of existing and proposed expressways to an international company, Highways Minister Lakshman Kiriella said.He told the Sunday Times that in terms of the proposal, the company would make an advance payment to operate the expressways for about 25 years and collect the toll charges. “The advance payments will be useful to complete the proposed expressways to Ruwanpura, Dambulla and Jaffna,” he said.
The minister said some international companies had already expressed interest and the Government would consider the most favourable proposal. A Road Development Authority spokesman said RDA officials would continue to serve on the expressway while the company might instal new equipment to operate the entry and exit gates.
He said the Ministry would require more than Rs 440 billion to complete the expressway projects and therefore it was not possible to depend only on the allocations from the Treasury. “This system has been adopted by many other countries,”
he added.