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Road repairs and asphalt laying: Quality under scrutiny

23 May 2021

  • Several roads destroyed and washed away by heavy rains 

  • RDA denies allegations of inferior quality of road repairs 

  • More attention on quality of road repairs to prevent corruption 

 By Maheesha Mudugamuwa  Concerns have been raised over the quality of some recent road repairs around the country, with claims of newly laid asphalt being washed away at the first sign of “adverse weather”.  This issue was brought to light when the repairing and construction of the road network was first initiated. However, public attention was drawn to the most recent incidents reported from Pitigala and Agalawatte, as residents claimed that the thin layer of asphalt laid recently, spending millions of rupees, was washed away during the heavy rain.   Roads washed away   Accordingly, the residents claimed that the asphalt laid recently had come out as soon as it rained along a 17 km road that links Pitigala to Mapalagama, constructed a few months prior to the heavy rain fall.  The residents in Pitigala have stressed that the new asphalt had been laid without even removing the previously laid asphalt and the road had been constructed without proper drainage and therefore, there was no way for the water to recede. In a similar situation reported from Kalutara last week, residents have claimed the road that connects the Liyanagedara Junction in Beragama, Agalawatte in Kalutara to Udawalawe has washed away during the heavy rains.  The residents have stressed that the road had been constructed a month ago at a cost of over Rs. 20 million and the asphalt laid by the contractors can even be broken by hand.  “The asphalt layer is very thin and that was also washed away by the rain. The rain was not as adverse as it was before, but the road couldn’t bear the water pressure,” a resident has reportedly said, adding that this was a crime, as the contractors have wasted taxpayer money.  In addition to the recent incidents reported due to adverse weather conditions, The Sunday Morning witnessed that some roads constructed recently in Battaramulla also had many defects. 
  1. Perera, a resident of Old Batapotha Road, told The Sunday Morning that the construction of Old Batapotha Road commenced mid last year but the construction of culverts were completed only very recently. 
“Those culverts have also not been fully completed and there was no drainage system for the road constructed even after spending a huge sum of money,” he stressed.  Not only the new roads but repairs to already existing roads have also been done carelessly in many areas, as a lack of co-ordination between the Road Development Authority (RDA) and the National Water Supply and Drainage Board (NWSDB) can be witnessed pertaining to many roads in Colombo and major towns around the country.  After the RDA constructs the roads, at some point the NWSDB drills it to lay or maintain pipelines, after which the quality of the road drops, as it is never repaired to the status it was at before the drilling.   PCs and local authorities responsible for road administration   According to the RDA, Sri Lanka owns a very well spread out road network of 116,000 km. The current road density of Sri Lanka is 1.7 km of roads per square kilometre.  The road network is classified into national, provincial, pradeshiya sabha, local authority roads, and roads built under numerous development projects according to their functionality and administrative responsibility.  The 12,380 km of national roads, comprising class “A” roads (trunk roads), class “B” roads (main roads), and expressways (E) are administered by the Government through the RDA as the executing agency.  However, local authorities in the country are responsible for the administration of the majority, nearly 56%, of the road network and nine provincial councils are responsible for the administration and management of provincial roads. Thus, the provincial councils and local authorities manage the vast majority of the road network.  According to the initial budget estimate of the existing national network and the expressway network, the total 10-year budget requirement was around Rs. 427.7 billion and Rs. 10.8 billion was the requirement for road improvement.    Major road development projects   At present, two main road development programmes are being implemented.  The iRoad programme of the RDA is one such major project that commenced in 2014 and is expected to be completed in 2027. The programme included eight projects covering nine provinces.   The pilot phase of the iRoad programme commenced in 2015 in the Southern Province covering the Galle, Matara, and Hambantota Districts. The total funding provided under the iRoad 1 programme amounts to $ 800 million, followed by further funding of $ 900 million under the iRoad 2 programme.  The project is implemented by the RDA under the executing authority of the Ministry of Highways and Road Development and Petroleum Resources Development.  Under the iRoad 1 programme, around 3,000 km of rural roads in the Southern, Sabaragamuwa, Central, North Central, and North Western Provinces, and the Kalutara District in the Western Province will be improved/rehabilitated and maintained for three years through 42 civil works contracts. Under the iRoad 2 programme, around 3,750 km of rural roads in the Eastern, Northern, Western, and Uva Provinces will be improved/rehabilitated and maintained for three years through 53 civil works contracts.  When considering the quality of the road construction, the iRoad programme is being supervised by several consultants including MG Consultants (Pvt.) Ltd. and Engineering Consultants Ltd. for the Southern and Northern Provinces; Pyunghwa Engineering Consultants Ltd. (Korea) with Resources Development Consultants (Pvt.) Ltd. (Sri Lanka) for the North Central, Uva, and North Western Provinces; Egis International and Consulting Engineers and Architects Associated (Pvt.) Ltd. for the Central, Sabaragamuwa, Western, and Eastern Provinces; and SMEC International Pty. Ltd. for the Western Province.  Another major road development project implemented under the current Government is the improvement of 100,000 road networks under the “Maga Neguma” programme.   Nearly 52 projects have already been completed under the programme as of February this year.  Nevertheless, the quality and the maintenance of the road network are being questioned by the taxpayers, as billions of rupees are being spent on road development but the authorities haven't maintained the quality of the newly built roads.    Required maintenance and standards   According to the National Road Master Plan (NRMP) 2018-2027, it is mandatory to conduct routine maintenance annually for all types of roads irrespective of traffic volume or condition. If the roughness of the road is at a satisfactory level, depending on the traffic volume, routine maintenance was selected as the only intervention.   The basic practice in the country for periodic maintenance of already asphalted roads is to provide AC (asphalt) overlay of thickness, which depends on the existing traffic volume. The decision was taken by the RDA higher management not to use any surface treatment methods (DBST/SBST surfacing) other than the upgrading of unsealed roads due to construction difficulties arising in particular areas in the country.  For some roads, normal hot mix asphalt (HMA) overlay is used. For the improvement (strengthening and reconstruction)of roads, if the condition of the road has deteriorated beyond a certain level, for instance roughness was more than IRI 8.0 m/km, when normal period maintenance would not suffice, road strengthening, by increasing the structural capacity of the pavement, is proposed, the NRMP highlighted.  It is stated that if the condition of road has deteriorated so much so that the roughness increases more than IRI 10.5 m/km, normal roadworks are no longer feasible and complete reconstruction of the road is adopted with improved geometry.    RDA denies quality failure   However, when contacted by The Sunday Morning, RDA Chairman Chaminda Athuluwage stressed that the aforementioned roads in question were destroyed recently due to adverse weather conditions and not because of the quality failure.  “This is common even in other countries. There were no quality failures. All roads are being constructed following required methods and the RDA engineers are also inspecting the roads. For each road, there is a project director and a set of officials to monitor it,” he stressed.  “If we feel that there is a quality issue, we take stern action against the contractor,” he continued.  According to the RDA Chairman, massive road rehabilitation work was currently being conducted and there was a huge demand from all parts of the island. “We have received requests for 42,000 km (of road) and out of those, we have completed 20,000 km so far,” he said, adding that the RDA is paying more attention to the road quality and therefore, the chances for any sort of corruption is minimal.


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