Some Sri Lankan families whose land have been acquired for road development have been waiting for more than 25 years for compensation while payments owed to 42,000 affected families is estimated at Rs 8.6 billion, a top government official said on Tuesday.
Highways and Road Development Ministry Secretary Admiral Wasantha Karannagoda, speaking at the launch of the Asian Development Bank (ADB) guide for "Designing and Implementing Redress Mechanisms for Implementors of Transport Projects" in Colombo, said that he had recently brought this to the attention of the Sri Lankan President. He also requested the ADB to consider helping the government rectify this issue so that Sri Lanka could continue its road development plans unencumbered by past debts or "start from zero".
Meanwhile Additional Director General (Projects) of the country's Road Development Authority, S. Meihandon said Sri Lanka spent approximately Rs. 90 billion on road development in 2009 (Rs. 90,818 million) up from Rs. 9, 704 million in 2000.
A further Rs. 100 billion would be likely spent in 2010 as current allocations equaled around Rs. 80 billion, with the rest going towards additional expenses.
He said the newest trend was more global standard expressways being commissioned.
Mr. Meihandon also revealed that the first phase of the North East Expressway, stretching from Colombo to Ambepussa and estimated to cost US$500 million, could begin as early as 2011 since the designs were finalised and only signing of the development loans were pending.
He also noted that the Southern Expressway was being funded by the ADB, the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) and the Export Import Bank of China, while the recently started construction of the outer circular highway was by JICA and the Colombo Katunayake Expressway was by the Export Import Bank of China.
He noted that the most common grievances stemmed from land acquisition, including compensation, resettlement and income loss. He added that construction could also result in unexpected side effects such as crack in the foundation of houses in the surrounding area, dust, noise pollution, water quality issues, drying of wells and traffic congestion. He further indicated that on the Southern Expressway thus far 2,921 grievance cases had been filed, out of which 92% had been resolved. In the same vein, ADB Sri Lanka Country Director Dr. Richard Vokes, indicated that 4,900 construction complaints had been received for the Southern Expressway project between 2005 and 2009, the catalyst for the guide which was launched.
ADB's South Asian Principal Safeguards Specialist, Dr. Jayantha Perera, revealed that land acquired for road development was often taken under section 38 of the Land Acquisition Act, an emergency provision which could result in land being transferred in a matter of 24 hours.
He also added that other common complaints made by the public with regard to road construction was that land acquisition plans and litigation methods were inadequate, insufficient funds and officials were available to redress issues, weak or no consultation occurred with affected people, and environmental impact studies were frequently bypassed or filed after construction had already begun. |
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