A notable reduction of the income earned from toll roads around the country has been observed by the Road Development Authority (RDA) during the past several months, The Sunday Morning learns.
Sources at the Ministry of Highways told The Sunday Morning on terms of anonymity that the 96 km-long Matara-Hambantota stretch of the expressway, which was built at a cost of around Rs. 225 billion, had recorded the lowest income over the past few months.
According to the RDA, the income generated from toll roads has seen a reduction mainly due to the reduction of transportation brought on by the ongoing economic crisis, fuel shortages, and price hikes.
It is reliably learnt that the Matara-Hambantota stretch of the Southern Expressway has been severely affected by the income reduction and, as a result, routine maintenance of the road is facing constraints.
When The Sunday Morning contacted RDA Director General L.V.S. Weerakoon, he said the income from all toll roads had dropped due to various reasons, with the main reason being the ongoing economic crisis, due to which people had cut down on transport expenses.
However, he denied there had been any special impact on the Matara-Hambantota stretch.
Weeerakoon said the Matara-Hambantota stretch had been constructed following a comprehensive study of all environmental, economic, and social aspects. He added that it had not been built based only on economic factors, but also taking the social impact into account.
“We did not conduct a separate economic assessment for the Southern Expressway, but we did so for the Central Expressway,” he added.
Sri Lanka currently has over 271 km of designated expressways serving the southern and central parts of the country.
The first stage of the E01 Expressway (Southern Expressway), which opened in 2011, was Sri Lanka’s first expressway spanning a distance of 95.3 km. The second stage of the Southern Expressway opened in 2014 and extends to Matara.
The E03 Expressway (Colombo-Katunayake Expressway) opened in 2013 and connects Colombo with the Bandaranaike International Airport, covering a distance of 25.8 km.
All E-Grade highways in Sri Lanka are access-controlled toll roads with speed limits in the range of 80-110 km per hour (50-68 mph).