Ivap has a post on Trincomalee student murders.Just have to add that it's damn time that criminals among security forces be brought to justice.So many incidents (88-90,Bindunewewa ,Krishanthi Kumaraswamy and numerous atrocities in North and South) and nobody has been punished for any of the crimes.Anybody remember (or heard about )Premawathie Manamperi incident during 1971 insurgency ,and how the murderers were brought to justice?
Coming back to the post I was going to write ,it's highways as usual .Check this in Asian tribune.Practically these guys are begging for decent roads.
According to Gretian Gunawardana , Chairman of Hands group said that they need a better transportation network to carry out their normal operations without wasting time.“If our international buyers need to check our products they have to waste more than four to five hours to visit the factories in the rural areas.
If you summerise what they are saying,it will be "We don't need tax breaks and we don't need textile quota.Please give us a good road system.We can compete in international market".
I checked the progress of all the highways projects in the ministry web site.It's seems that they are planning on speeding up southern highway but the documents and excel sheets doesn't say much.It might be 2015 when we have at least the basic system of higways connecting Colombo Matara,kandy and airport.This is the road system we should have built in 70's or 80's!
Here is a simple plan.Put all the resources into one highway and finishing it ASAP to show the country how it can turn the things around.People will be demanding that their regions be connected within 6 months of completion of one highway.
Take for example the southern expressway.
1.Galle and Matara will be practically suburbs of Colombo.
2.Number of of industries will be starting up close to the exits of the highway which are currently underdeveloped and have very limited job oppertunites.
3.Tourism in deeper parts of South will boom.
4.Better prices and market access to the agricultural products from South and Uva .
Finish the damn thing as soon as possible.
Within six months people will be protesting about the slow pace of other projects(Kandy ,Anuradhapura etc..)
5 comments:
thanks for the ref.
so what is it about roads that ticles the pickle? is it a professional interest?
BTW, do they still outsource highway bulding (planning and design I think) to foreign contractors? Is/was this because of a lack of local knowledge?
From daily news(feb 1st.2006)
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Chinese firm to complete Katunayake Expressway
by Hiran H. Senewiratne
The Government has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with a leading Chinese construction company, Metallurgical Construction (Group) Corporation (MCC) to complete the Colombo-Katunayake Expressway before next year.
MCC last week carried out the investigations on the project and will inform the Government before the end of February on the undertaking of the project, Secretary, Ministry of Highways Sarath Amarasekera told the Daily News.
He said once the MCC undertakes the project, the Government is planning to obtain a loan from the Chinese Government to complete the expressway. The Chinese Government has principally agreed to provide a loan for the project.
The 26-km Expressway was designed more than a decade ago and left abandoned for many years due to funding problems. At present 35 per cent of the work has been done and to complete the balance, the Government will raise a soft loan of US$ 200 million from the Chinese Government.
If the Government's project proposal is compatible with the MCC's investigation reports construction work is likely to commence in three-months time, which is in May, Amarasekera said. The Government submitted a detailed project proposal to the MCC in October last year.
Once they award the contract to the Chinese company they are expected to complete it within a year from the day it commences construction work, he said. This expressway will benefit locals and foreigners as the travelling time from Colombo to the Katunayake Airport will be reduced significantly where passengers could reach the Airport in 20 minutes, he said.
MCC claims a total asset of as much as RMB 32 billion yuan and a wealth of over 56,000 technical and managerial employees (including as many as 6,000 senior professional title holders). On the map of MCC, there are about 70 fully owned or controlled subsidiaries in the world. MCC Group has been well received all over the world. MCC Group has been well received all over the world.
Over the past few decades, MCC Group has accomplished a number of strategic projects for sectors covering municipal services, roads and bridges, power generation and distribution, chemical industry, mining development, environmental protection, electronics, nonferrous metallurgy, aeronautics and astronautics, etc.
Hi Chandare,
I moved my blog to a new address::
http://lgjournal.allhyper.com
Pls update your links when you have time :-) Best wishes.
LOHAN
I did.
r
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