collapse at abandoned highway project

According to a report by the International Monetary Fund, highway construction costs in Sri Lanka are exorbitant, about three times higher than the world average. President Ranil Wickremesinghe had declared that the second stretch of the Central Expressway would be started “jointly with China”. Meanwhile, local residents have been deprived of their rice fields.

Colombo () – A 35-meter concrete beam collapsed along Sri Lanka’s main highway, the Central Expressway. The incident occurred on May 5 at kilometer 17, near Bemmulla railway station. According to the Road Development Authority, two other girders are also considered to be in danger, but construction work, paralyzed for three years, will resume when the next tranche is released from the International Monetary Fund (IMF). In fact, the collapsed beam was placed in 2021. There is currently standing water, metal parts, sand, debris, steel beams left to rust, and overgrown structures under the pillars.

According to a white paper published by the International Monetary Fund last year, the construction costs of Sri Lanka’s highways are exorbitant, about three times higher than the world average.

During a 2024 budget speech, President Ranil Wickremesinghe had stated that the second stretch of the Central Expressway, the one from Kadawatha to Mirigama, would be started “jointly with China”. However, the investigation team and engineers of the Road Development Authority who inspected the site raised a number of questions about the project, which is having a negative impact on local villagers.

Siriyawathie Hettiarachchi, Gunapala Sedara and Sumanasiri Wiiepala, residents of Bemmulla, where the beam collapsed, told that officials and contractors had asked them to abandon their rice fields to allow construction of the highway. In exchange they would receive compensation. But almost four years later – the project began in 2020 – local residents have yet to see any compensation. “About three-quarters of the paddy fields were allocated to the project, but we could not even cultivate the remaining lands because the Chinese contractor diverted water into the canal through drainage canals. As a result, the remaining paddy fields are flooded,” they added. .

According to Hemasiri Jayatissa and Menike Karunawathie, aged 82 and 85, some villagers whose houses were damaged, having not received compensation to rebuild them, are living under the abandoned structures on the highway and the police are trying to arrest them. “Even the village boys who go fishing in the drainage canals are often dragged away by the police because they are suspected of vandalism, even though the construction workers stole metal parts and construction materials once the construction project was abandoned. the highway. Some walls of our houses are also cracked and we live in fear that they may collapse,” they said.

Some farmers complained that their rice fields are flooded during rainy days because the project builders blocked the flow of the canal that carries water to the fields. “Some farmers receive too much water, while others do not receive enough. As a result, it is impossible for us to farm and earn a living. Those affected should be compensated for the years of torment due to the sudden halt of the project,” they said.

Meanwhile, the Road Development Authority has appointed a three-member expert committee to probe the girder collapse. “The information collected so far by the two teams has not been conclusive.”