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Proposed expressway projects: Expressway Investment Company to be set up

14 Oct 2020

By Maheesha Mudugamuwa Cabinet approval was granted for a proposal submitted by Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa in his capacity as the Minister of Finance to set up a state-owned company, Expressway Investment Company (EIC), to own and self-finance the proposed expressways. Co-Cabinet Spokesman Mass Media Minister Keheliya Rambukwella said the company will be solely owned by the Secretary to the Treasury, with all expressways being taken under the particular company so that the proposed company is eligible to collect funds required for the construction of expressways, thus enabling it to collect income generated through expressway tolls as well as other income-generating means related to the expressways. Addressing the weekly cabinet media briefing at the Government Information Department, Minister Rambukwella said that approximately 0.5-1% of Gross Domestic Product (GDP) should be allocated towards financing the expressways already under the construction and scheduled to be constructed. Therefore, he continued, the Cabinet of Ministers has granted their consent for the resolution forwarded by the Prime Minister to incorporate the state-owned company, EIC. He also noted that the Government had already taken steps to expedite the construction work of the pending expressway projects including the Central Expressway, Ruwanpura Expressway, as well as the Kelaniya-Athurugiriya Expressway in parallel to 100,000 km of road projects launched recently under President Gotabaya Rajapaksa’s “Vistas of Prosperity and Splendour” manifesto and national policy framework.


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