Highways and Road Development Minister T. B. Ekanayake yesterday (20) told Parliament that the total estimated cost of the Matara-Colombo Southern Expressway was Rs. 85 billion. The work would be completed by 2011. The government had already spent Rs. 43,887 million on the project, he said.

Minister Ekanayake was answering a question by JVP Colombo District MP Lakshman Nipunarachchi on whether any new construction work had been added due to various reasons, in addition to the initial plans prepared for the construction of the road. The Minister answered in the affirmative.

Minister Ekanayake said that the original design of the project had been to construct a four-lane highway from Kottawa to Dodangoda (34 km) and two lanes from Dodangoda to Matara (92 km). But during implementation, a decision was taken to upgrade the entire highway to four-lane standard and to restructure all contracts with enhanced scope. Further opening of Kaluganga Bridge, Welipenna Bridge and Bentara Ganga Bridge were added to mitigate flooding. Additional flooding mitigation method was also adopted at the Kahathuduwa Interchange. Altogether the original cost was revised from Rs 40 billion by an additional amount of Rs 45 billion, Minister said.