News
Highway access: Broken Kerawalapitiya Road rolls out as symbol of disconnected development
The state of the road. Pix by Akila Jayawardana
A key access road to the Outer Circular Highway at Kerwalapitiya in Wattala is in a state of neglect and, according to road users, rolls out as a symbol of disconnected road development.
From the Kerawalapitiya Junction near the Wattala Pradeshiya Sabhawa to the Kerawalapitiya highway entrance, the road has been poorly maintained over the past few yeas. As a result, potholes that were small a few years ago have now become larger and deeper, causing problems to residents, pedestrians and motorists.
During the recent heavy rains, they were turned into pools of mud, and people were finding it difficult to travel on this road, especially the stretch in front of St. Joseph’s church and a landmark toy factory.
Shop owner Priyantha Perera said that during rains, his customers found it difficult to enter the shop because of the damaged road.
“Road construction workers put some stones to cover the holes a few weeks ago, but they did not do anything else. Now that schools have reopened, schoolchildren are also facing difficulties,” he said.
Priyantha Perera
Mr. Perera’s shop and house are located right next to St. Joseph’s church in Kerawalapitiya. The church houses a primary school as well.
Since Kerawalapitiya houses the Litro gas terminal, the Yugadanavi power plant, and many industries, heavy and long vehicles such as container trucks, bowsers and lorries use this narrow road, aggravating the poor condition of the road.
Another shop owner, V. Raja, said the road was not built to support heavy vehicles. He also pointed out that the Water Board which dug up the carpeted road to lay pipelines for new connections would not redo the road in a proper way.
“They dig up the road and won’t carpet it properly after their work is completed. That is why there are large holes in the road now,” Mr Raja said.
He also pointed to leaves that had collected in the drains and said no one from the Provincial Road Development Authority had visited recently to clean them.
“When it rains there is almost one foot of water outside my shop, because water collects in the holes on the road, and the drains are also stagnated,” Mr Raja said.
Last Tuesday, road construction workers put crushed stones to cover the large holes outside the Paradise Toy factory, but nothing happened after that, said A. Balachandran, who runs a vegetable shop.
He, too, complained about blocked drains and said that when it rained, his shop was full of water up to more than ankle level.
According to Wattala Pradeshiya Sabhawa Chairman Thyagi Alwis, funds to repair the road and repair the drains were released by the Western Provincial Council a few months ago. However, progress in repairing the road had been slow these past few months.
“First the Welisara Water Board visited Kerawalapitiya to lay new pipelines which are stronger and more flexible than the PVC pipes used previously. The PVC pipes under the road were getting damaged by the movement of heavy vehicles in the area. The Water Board constantly needs to attend to repairs, and therefore has to dig up the road,” Mr Alwis said.
Mr Alwis said the laying of the pipeline was a time-consuming process, but the work had now been completed.
“The road needs to carpeted in such a way that it will not get damaged easily by the movement of heavy vehicles,” he said.
Mr Alwis also said the Western Provincial Council planned to repair Gunasekera Mawatha, the road connecting the Kerawalapitiya Road to the Negombo Road, at the Mattumagala Junction in Welisara. This road had also been damaged by the movement of heavy vehicles.
Western Province Provincial Road Development Authority General Manager R. M. S. Bandaranayaka said the repairs to Kerawalapitiya Road and the drains would begin this week. He said they would carpet the road to accommodate heavy vehicles and the contract was awarded last week to Ruwan Trade Centre, a construction company from Pannipitiya.
Its owner said: “There was a delay in starting the repairs as we haven’t found suitable accommodation in the area for the workers doing the repairs. If we find a place tomorrow, then on Tuesday or Wednesday we can begin the work. There has also been a delay because workers are reluctant to work due to COVID risks.”
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