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Elevated highway EIA report: Resettlement costs alone will be a staggering Rs. 38bn
View(s):The Government will have to spend more than Rs 38bn in resettlement expenses alone for the construction of 9.5km of the proposed elevated highway from Rajagiriya to Athurugiriya by China Harbour Engineering Corporation (CHEC), a new report states.
This includes compensation for lands, homes and trees, self-relocation and rental accommodation, replacement of public and common properties, livelihood restoration and rehabilitation, the project’s Environment Impact Assessment (EIA) report discloses.
Senior Highways Ministry officials are pushing the Road Development Authority (RDA) to finalise the award of the full 16.4km four-lane roadway from New Kelani Bridge (NKB) to Athurugiriya, to the Chinese company despite an official freeze on costly mega projects.
To construct the highway, CHEC, the same firm that invested in the Colombo Port City, is expected to seek a loan, which will be repaid by the RDA. The full terms of the contract – including its latest total cost (in USD and rupee terms), interest rates, repayment period or quantum of financial risk CHEC will factor into the agreement, and the semi-annuity payments – have not been disclosed.
The EIA discloses that the total impacted area for the Rajagiriya-Athurugiriya phase is nearly 94 acres. It covered 463 households or just 30 percent of directly affected households. It says the socio-economic and resettlement cost is high as there are urban lands and well-structured residential and commercial buildings. The majority of families want compensation from the Government so that they can self-relocate.
A total of 89 businesses will be affected, 45 of them fully. Separately, impacted households are mostly upper- and upper-middle class with a relatively high asset base. Their “social power and authority”, too, are high as evinced by their economic status and purchasing power. As a result, they constantly oppose the project, the EIA indicates, adding that, “satisfying them is not an easy task”.
To mitigate the loss of livelihoods of affected households, the EIA suggests that relocation should meet their aspirations. The project management unit “should have a technically perfect, logical, and efficient mechanism to improve their socio-economic status and livelihood…”
Much of the proposed route traverses private lands, while a few are Government-owned and will be transferred to the RDA. There will be three interchanges at Koswatta, Hokandara and Athurugiriya. All but 300m will be on viaducts.
A section will pass through Diyawanna Lake and cross some of its islands. A part is also positioned over the Water’s Edge Hotel and Polduwa Road with the possibility of “noteworthy damages” to the hotel. Part of the golf course land will be required, and the existing swimming pool will be fully acquired.
The project outline covers a significantly built-up residential area in Battaramulla and passes through Malabe Road at Koswatte. It also crosses part of the environmentally sensitive Thalangama and Averihena Tanks and paddy fields.
The EIA recommends the appointment of an experienced ecologist from the contractor’s side “to guide construction activities within the environmentally sensitive areas”, including Thalangama, and to identify fauna that have the potential to be disturbed, injured or killed as a result of project activities. The expert can also contribute towards conserving vulnerable species through removal and relocation.
However, the habitats of two endemic, threatened cats – the rusty-spotted cat (Prionailurusrubiginosus) and the fishing cat (Prionailurusviverrinus) – will be “disturbed and lost during the construction stage”.
“These species have been found in the Thalangama wetland area, which provides an ideal habitat for their survival,” the EIA states, predicting that they will migrate to similar habitats near the project site as a result of construction disturbance.
“Therefore, nearby wetland habitats must be preserved from disturbance throughout the construction phase,” it says.
The EIA estimates environmental mitigation measures to cost Rs 1.7bn. A further Rs 31mn will be required to implement the environmental monitoring plan.
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