Southern Expressway (2 items)

President opens ‘Gateway to wonder’ on November 27

Nadira GUNATILLEKE

President Mahinda Rajapaksa will open the newly built 128 kilometre Southern Expressway, `Gateway to Wonder’ on November 27. President Rajapaksa will later address the public at a ceremony at Kurundugahahethekma, Media Ministry sources said.

Religious dignitaries, ministers, deputy ministers, ambassadors and high commissioners will participate in the opening ceremony. The public will be educated on how to use the expressway over the media from November 14. A leaflet with guidelines and information will be given to vehicles entering the highway. A Pirith chanting ceremony will be held at Queens House on November 16 and 17.

Several events will be held at the expressway on November 24. On this day, 20,000 cyclists will participate along the expressway for the first and the last time. The public can walk on the expressway on this day for the first and the last time. Helitours will organize helicopter rides to view the expressway from the top. Balloon rides will also be organized, the sources said.

The minimum toll fee will be Rs. 100. The toll for the full distance will be Rs 400 for a car. The return toll will be the same. The Gateway to Wonder starts from Makumbura, Kottawa and ends at Pinnaduwa in Galle. It allows speeds of up to 100 kilometres per hour.

It will cut down travelling time between Galle and Colombo, the sources added.

http://www.dailynews.lk/2011/11/10/news04.asp


No passenger buses initially on Southern expressway


By Ravi Ladduwahetty

Buses will not be allowed to use the Rs. 70 billion Southern expressway, from Mahakumbura in Kottawa to Pinnaduwa in Galle, scheduled to be opened by President Mahinda Rajapaksa at 10.00 a.m. on November 27.

The RDA has directed the National Transport Commission not to issue any permits to buses carrying local commuters for sometime in view of the known recklessness of long distance bus drivers, Road Development Authority Chairman R. W. R. Premasiri told The Island yesterday.

However, he said, that the NTC would be duly informed when their members could be allowed to ply on this 95-kilometre route.

The expressway, the first of its kind to be built in Sri Lanka, will be 98 kilometres in length and will end at Pinnaduwa in Galle, at which point there is an access road to the city of Galle which falls near the Ruhunu cement factory.

It will take the government 20 years to recover the project cost of Rs. 70 billion and the RDA has projected an income of Rs. 1.2 billion next year through the toll fees. It also expects 5,000 vehicles to ply on that route next year.

Responding to newspaper reports about potholes and lack of safety on the route, he said that initially there would be some problems in every such road such as that. He added that the people also should realize that this was the only one of its kind in Sri Lanka and teething problems were bound to take place.

He also said that there were also letters written by various people to him but he had said the same. But, efforts had been taken to rectify the issues which had been highlighted in those letters, he said.

http://www.island.lk/index.php?page_cat=article-details&page=article-details&code_title=38760