Minister of Highways Johnston Fernando has pledged that the construction of the Central Expressway from Colombo to Kandy would be completed by 2024.
According to the Ministry of Highways, the Minister gave this pledge in response to a request made by the Anunayake of Malwatte Chapter Ven Dimbulkumbure Wimaladhamma Nayake thero.
The Minister had met the Thero during a ceremony held in Kurunegala to hand over the Upapradhana Sanghanayake of the Satkorala Mahadisave and Dharmakeerthi title to the Chief Incumbent of the Sri Nandarama in Thoradeniya Ven Denike Sirinivasa Ananda thero on Sunday.
The Anunayake thero requested the Minister to complete the expressway construction as it was the former’s wish to see people from Colombo to Kandy traverse easily in the expressway to worship the Dalada Maligawa.
“I traveled to Matara yesterday and I could come to Kadawatha within two hours thanks to the Southern Expressway. When we travel from Colombo to Kandy it would take more than four hours. Vehicles in Colombo-Kandy road cannot overtake one another because the road is so narrow in most of the places. The ministers from the Central Province did nothing to solve this problem. Kandy is the second main city of this country but people cannot come there without hindrance and difficulty because the governments could not complete the expressway to Kandy. I am 81 years old now and it is my wish to see people coming to worship the Dalada Maligawa using the Central Expressway,” Wimaladhamma Nayake thero said.
In response, Minister Fernando has pledged to complete the construction work of the Central Expressway by 2024.
“The foundation stone for the expressway was laid by the fifth executive president Mahinda Rajapaksa in November 2014 and work started in Galagedara, Kurunegala, and Dambulla. Following his election loss, the yahapalana government came to power and stopped all the work. They canceled the projects. The cancellations were due to political reasons because they did not want to give credit to our work. If there was no government change in 2015, the work of the Central Expressway could have been completed in 2018. After canceling the projects, the yahapalana government started to work on the expressway in 2017 but they could not pay the constructors. At the time we came to power there were arrears to constructors to the tune of Rs 36 billion. That amount was paid within 60 days after President Gotabaya Rajapaksa assumed duties. We could open the road from Mirigama to Kurunegala. There were cases against it but we could complete and open it for the public use,” he said.
The Minister further said “We commenced the work on the section from the Pothuhera to Rambukkana under the direct contracting system. Some opposition members recently raised baseless allegations of massive corruption running to billions of rupees in building the Central expressway. Their target is to derail our work. I responded to those allegations and it is our hope to commence the work of the final 20 kilometers of the expressway to Kandy soon.”
Minister Johnston Fernando also expressed hope for the Government to sign the agreements with the relevant construction companies within two weeks, the Ministry of Highways added. (NewsWire)