Construction on the first phase of the Central Expressway section from Kurunegala to Dambulla is expected to begin by the first week of December, Deputy Minister of Transport and Highways Prasanna Gunasena told Parliament on Wednesday, NewsFirst reported.
The Deputy Minister said the project will be launched on the same day as construction of the Ratnapura Expressway section up to Ingiriya.
Domestic funding, local contractors
Gunasena said both projects will be built using domestic funds and local contractors, without resorting to loans or incurring interest costs.
That financing approach is the substantive claim in Wednesday’s statement. Sri Lanka’s expressway programme has historically been built on foreign credit lines, and several sections have stalled over financing and contractor disputes.
A date attached to an older commitment
The announcement puts a specific start date on a commitment made in Parliament two months ago. On 8 September, Transport Minister Bimal Ratnayake named Katunayake–Chilaw, Kurunegala–Dambulla and Kahatuduwa–Ingiriya as three expressway projects that would begin “this year”, but gave no contract values, timelines or funding sources.
Wednesday’s statement supplies the timing and the funding model for two of those three, and the Kahatuduwa–Ingiriya stretch — Phase 1 of the Ruwanpura Expressway — is the same corridor the Deputy Minister referred to as the Ratnapura section up to Ingiriya.
The Kurunegala–Dambulla stretch is the northernmost component of the Central Expressway, the long-delayed route intended to link Colombo with the Central and North Central provinces.
NewsFirst’s report did not give a contract value, a named contractor, or a completion target for either project.
