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Cabinet approval sought to suspend land acquisition for elevated expressway
View(s):The Highways Ministry is to seek Cabinet approval next week to suspend land acquisition for the proposed elevated expressway from New Kelani Bridge (NKB) to Athurugiriya—a project for which China Habour Engineering Company Ltd (CHEC) had been identified—as it starts pulling out of high-cost infrastructure construction citing lack of funds.
While the proposed roadway was packaged as an investment project, the Government was still responsible for meeting the cost of land acquisition and resettlement.
“If it is decided to build this road, the Government financing should be minimised by an appropriate funding source on an appropriate financial payment model by focusing on the current requirements and considering the port access road which is under construction and the proposed land, roads, financial situation and economic analysis should be done by an appropriate expert committee,” the Ministry will tell Cabinet.
Earlier this year, CHEC wrote to Highways Minister Bandula Gunawardena saying it had allocated “substantial resources to get to the current level” and wished to swiftly implement the initiative in accordance with its agreement with the Government of Sri Lanka.
But according to a Highways Minister memorandum going to Cabinet tomorrow, land acquisition will be suspended. It adds that “since the Government’s attention has been focused on completing the construction of this highway as a foreign investment, it has also been decided that it is appropriate to reach an agreement with the relevant investor for the construction of highways with land acquisition costs and to terminate the further work of the Project Management Unit (PMU)”.
The PMU for the NKB-Athurugiriya expressway has already been closed down, as the Sunday Times reported in January. The Cabinet paper states that a total of 2,102 plots of land need to be acquired at an estimated cost to the State of Rs 32bn.
Meanwhile, there are five court cases being heard against a section of the road going through the Talangama Environmental Protection Zone.
The Cabinet paper reveals that Rs 323.4mn has already been spent on the PMU and another Rs 54mn on acquisition activities. An amount of Rs 13.4mn is to be paid as charges for acquisition activities and environmental assessment reports (EIAs). And a payment of Rs 190mn has been made to the Ceylon Electricity Board for the displacement of their towers in the project area.
The Highways Ministry will now seek Cabinet approval to abandon the 626 plots among those acquired in the first phase from NKB to Rajagiriya, replace 224 plots of land and divest 1,252 plots from the second phase from Rajagiriya to Athurugiriya.
Among other things, it will also ask the CEB for repayment of the Rs 190mn and obtain Rs 13.4mn to settle overdue payments for completed acquisition activities and EIAs.
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