- No request yet for a reevaluation of CEP
As the Central Province struggles to recover from the destruction left in the wake of Cyclone Ditwah, the reasoning for the long-contested Central Expressway Project (CEP) is once again being questioned.
Landslides, damaged roads, disrupted agriculture, and increasingly vulnerable hill country communities have exposed the region’s environmental sensitivity, prompting renewed questions about how – and where – development should now proceed, and at what cost?
Against this backdrop, the Government’s decision to allocate funds to revive the decades-old expressway project has brought national development priorities in the central hills back into sharp focus.
Govt. resumes stalled projects
The CEP has been mired in controversy for years, plagued by prolonged delays, ballooning costs, and repeated uncertainty over funding sources. Most recently, discussions surrounding anticipated Chinese financing have stalled without clear public communication, as reliably learnt by The Sunday Morning.
Yet, despite these unresolved issues, the project is once again being pushed forward – largely on the basis of technical and economic assessments carried out more than a decade ago.
In the aftermath of Cyclone Ditwah, concerns are mounting over whether those assessments remain valid in a landscape now marked by heightened climate risks, geological instability, and altered economic realities.
Fresh Environmental Impact Assessments (EIAs) are warranted, and some have flagged the need for updated cost-benefit analyses that truly reflect present-day needs. Further, there is a question of whether the project aligns with the National Physical Planning Policy and Plan (NPPP) 2050.
Against this backdrop, the Government has allocated Rs. 342 billion in the 2026 Budget to revive and complete Sri Lanka’s expressway network. Key allocations include Central Expressway Phases I and III, the Katugastota-Galagedara road, the Kurunegala-Dambulla Expressway, and the Ruwanpura Expressway.
For the Central Expressway, construction has resumed on the Kadawatha-Mirigama (Phase I) section, with Rs. 66.15 billion allocated for 2026. The Pothuhera-Rambukkana (Phase III) section is expected to be completed by Q1 2027, supported by Rs. 10.5 billion, while Rs. 20 billion has been earmarked to commence work on the Rambukkana-Galagedara section using domestic funds.
In parallel, feasibility studies are set to begin for widening the Katugastota-Galagedara road, alongside upgrades to access roads into Kandy to ease congestion. For the Kurunegala-Dambulla Expressway, Rs. 1 billion has been allocated to complete land acquisition. Meanwhile, the stalled Ruwanpura Expressway (Kahathuduwa-Ingiriya) is to be reassessed based on a 2018 feasibility study, with Rs. 1.5 billion set aside for land acquisition and improvements to existing access roads.
Economist urges caution
Despite these developments, transport economist and University of Colombo (UOC) Department of Economics Professor Lalithasiri Gunaruwan cautioned that infrastructure priorities – including the CEP – must be determined through professional, comparative appraisal, rather than political momentum or legacy planning decisions.
Speaking to The Sunday Morning, Prof. Gunaruwan stressed that infrastructure development was fundamentally about enabling people’s mobility and trade, but decisions must be grounded in the principles of transport economics, particularly the concept of ‘generalised cost.’ This, he explained, extended beyond direct financial expenditure to include non-financial costs such as travel time, convenience, and productivity losses.
“Time spent on the road is a real economic cost,” he said, noting that while this factor had historically been undervalued due to low per capita incomes, its significance increased as incomes rose. “An hour saved today has a much higher economic value than it did before. Whether and how that is factored into decision-making is a policy choice.”
However, he cautioned that such benefits must be weighed against opportunity costs, as public funds committed to one sector inevitably reduced investment capacity in others. “This is precisely why prioritisation and comparative evaluation are essential,” Prof. Gunaruwan said, adding that this responsibility lay primarily with the Department of National Planning under the Ministry of Finance, Planning, and Economic Development.
He emphasised that while line ministries may evaluate projects within their own sectors, only a central planning body had the mandate to assess cross-sectoral impacts and determine national priorities. “The key question is not simply whether the Central Expressway is necessary, but whether it should be prioritised over other alternatives,” he said, underscoring the need for thorough appraisal by qualified investment and planning experts.
On environmental concerns – particularly in the wake of Cyclone Ditwah – Prof. Gunaruwan acknowledged the heightened sensitivity of the central hills, but warned against using risk alone as justification to abandon development altogether. “Risk is always present,” he said, drawing parallels with road safety and natural disasters. “The issue is not whether risk exists, but whether it has been properly assessed and managed.”
He noted that Sri Lanka had faced major natural disasters in the past, including floods, cyclones, and the 2004 tsunami, yet had continued to rebuild infrastructure. “These events must be treated as data for further analysis, not as reasons to withdraw entirely from economic activity,” he said.
Prof. Gunaruwan also questioned whether projects such as the CEP should continue based on EIAs conducted more than a decade ago, stressing that decisions on revising or redoing EIAs must be taken by technical professionals rather than through ad hoc or politically-driven judgements.
Importantly, he highlighted the need to examine alternative transport solutions, including rail-based options, before committing to large-scale expressway investments. Referring to proposals by transport professionals and academic bodies, he said that alternative railway alignments offering faster and potentially less environmentally sensitive access to the Central Province deserved serious consideration.
“If a fast and efficient railway alternative is prioritised, then the question arises whether the expressway should receive the same level of priority,” he said. “These alternatives must be comparatively appraised – economically, socially, and environmentally.”
Prof. Gunaruwan was careful not to take a definitive position for or against the Central Expressway, cautioning that doing so without comprehensive data would be unprofessional. “You cannot prescribe surgery without diagnosis,” he said, highlighting the need for updated studies, risk assessments, and cost-benefit analyses.
He said that ultimately, the issue was not whether development in the central hills should stop but how it should proceed. “Sri Lanka is not going to abandon the upcountry or turn it entirely into forest,” he said. “There is ongoing economic activity, tourism, and livelihoods that depend on connectivity. The challenge is to identify the most sustainable, least risky, and most economically sound option among the available alternatives.”
Whether such comprehensive evaluations had been carried out prior to the latest budgetary allocations, he added, remained an open question.
NPPP 2050 recommendations
According to the NPPP 2050, Sri Lanka’s Central Fragile Area comprises environmentally sensitive lands that are highly vulnerable to landslides and play a critical role in sustaining the island’s water resources.
Much of this area lies at an elevation higher than 300 metres above mean sea level and encompasses the upper catchments of all major rivers. These fragile zones span the entire districts of Kandy, Nuwara Eliya, and Kegalle, as well as identified divisional secretariat divisions in Matale, Ratnapura, Monaragala, Galle, Matara, Kalutara, and Colombo.
Given their ecological importance, physical development in these areas is intended to be governed by stringent regulations and comprehensive planning guidelines, enforced by agencies responsible for both development and conservation.
The National Building Research Organisation (NBRO) has already designated these districts as landslide-prone and is in the process of strengthening construction guidelines to mitigate geological risks. These measures aim to preserve geological formations and hydrological systems, as well as manage development density in a region increasingly pressured by urbanisation.
Recognising that unplanned growth poses long-term risks, the NPPP 2050 stresses that planned urban development is no longer optional but essential in the central hills. This is to be achieved through integrated urban development plans prepared under the Urban Development Authority Act of 1978, covering both existing and emerging urban centres.
The policy also proposes a gradual depopulation strategy, encouraging future generations to relocate towards designated economic development zones through improved employment opportunities, affordable housing, and better living environments.
Complementing these efforts, the plan highlights the importance of coordinated reforestation and tree-planting programmes to safeguard water resources, supported by the implementation of Sri Lanka’s National REDD+ Investment Framework and Action Plan (2017).
The NPPP 2050 further notes that Sri Lanka already maintains over 30,000 km of public roads, placing the country relatively high in terms of road density compared to regional peers. However, persistent shortcomings in maintenance and timely upgrading – particularly at the provincial level – continue to undermine efficiency.
While road transport accounts for more than 90% of national travel demand, the escalating cost of maintaining an expanding road network has placed a significant burden on the economy, underscoring the need for careful prioritisation of investments.
Although expressways provide rapid connectivity, they are among the most capital-intensive infrastructure investments. The NPPP 2050 observes that the existing expressway network – including the Southern Expressway, Colombo-Katunayake Expressway, Outer Circular Highway, and ongoing links connecting Colombo to Hambantota and Dambulla – is expected to be adequate to meet large-scale transport demand until at least 2030. Any further expressway expansions, the plan states, should be assessed only after that period, based on evolving demand patterns.
Instead, the policy prioritises improvements to railway services, integrated and efficient bus networks, and the upgrading of existing inter-regional highways to support mobility and goods transport in the medium term. Particular emphasis is placed on improving key national highways – including the A2, A3, A6, A9, A10, A11, A12, A14, and A34 – which link major cities and proposed metro regions.
A recurring challenge along these routes is congestion caused by ribbon development within urban centres, where highways effectively function as main streets. The plan cautions that such bottlenecks cannot be resolved through road widening alone, but require proactive, integrated urban planning at the local level.
Ultimately, the NPPP 2050 advocates that at both provincial and local levels, upgrading, maintaining, and optimising existing road infrastructure should take precedence over constructing new roads, except where compelling and well-justified needs exist.
Govt. response
Against this policy backdrop, The Sunday Morning reached out to Ministry of Transport, Highways, and Urban Development Secretary Kapila C.K. Perera, who said that clear instructions had been issued to ensure all development activities complied with the NPPP, as it remained the officially gazetted Government policy.
However, he noted that the Road Development Authority (RDA) had indicated the possibility of amending aspects of the existing plan to better reflect current economic, social, and environmental realities that had evolved over the past several years.
Despite these indications, there has been no formal move to reassess the CEP.
Central Environmental Authority (CEA) Chairman Tilak Hewawasam told The Sunday Morning that, to his knowledge, no request had been made to conduct a separate or fresh EIA for the project. He advised the newspaper to seek clarification from the relevant technical division.
Accordingly, The Sunday Morning contacted the Environmental Management and Assessment Division (EMA) of the CEA. EMA Acting Deputy Director General G.R.D.N. Attanayake said that the original EIAs for the Central Expressway sections from Kadawatha to Dambulla via Kurunegala had already been approved.
She explained that the Kadawatha-Mirigama section, which had been affected by recent flooding, was likely to be reviewed by the RDA as part of mitigation measures. Similarly, while the Pothuhera-Rambukkana section has already received EIA approval, the RDA retains the option to review route alignments and mitigation plans in light of impacts caused by Cyclone Ditwah.
However, Attanayake confirmed that no application had been submitted thus far seeking approval for a new or revised EIA for any section of the Central Expressway.
Meanwhile, repeated attempts by The Sunday Morning to contact Deputy Minister of transport and HIghways Prasanna Gunasena for comment were unsuccessful.