Govt. defends cost of expressways

The former government denied allegations that the expressways had been built at an exorbitant cost and said the contracts were awarded based on proper procurement guidelines.

The Additional Director General of the Road Development Authority, R.M. Amarasekara said that reports of the cost of construction of the expressways of Sri Lanka were taken out of proportion and the facts presented had been false and baseless.

He was speaking at a discussion regarding the cost of construction for all expressways in Sri Lanka, under the theme "DOERS perspective of the TALKERS hot topic: Infrastructure Development" organized by the Sri Lanka Engineering Professionals Association (SLEPA).

The Secretary of the Ministry of Ports and Highways R.W.R. Premasiri said that the cost of construction of all expressways in Sri Lanka is reasonable considering the scope of work, the terrain encountered and the special features incorporated into each expressway.

The officials responded to allegations by Professor Amal Kumarage who published a report regarding the cost of constructing the Outer Circular Highway (OCH) stating that the contract award price was Rs. 86,600 and the cost per km is US $72 million per km.

However, R.W.R. Premasiri said these figures were incorrect. According to him, the contract award price was Rs 66,600 million while the cost per km was US $ 57 million per km.

He said that Professor Amal Kumarage had some major lapses in his calculation of the costs and wrong information was presented about the expressways because of various reasons such as neglecting the viaduct length of the expressways and failing to compare the costs respective to the year in question. He also added that the Southern Expressway project was originally proposed as a two-lane road, but after determining the safety of the people, this was built as a four-lane road. "Items and quantities increase when switching from a two-lane road to a four-lane road," he said "Thus, the estimated costs increased due to quantity variations and rate changes."

According to Amarasekara, the contracts for the highways were awarded based on the procurement guidelines of the government and International Lending Agencies. He said that because the Southern Expressway was the first expressway constructed in Sri Lanka it only has the most basic features that are necessary. The additional cost that was added to the estimates that was prepared for the extension of the Southern Highway in 2013 was due to the many additional items and comprehensive details that were designed to add more value to the project.

by Cassendra Doole

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