The government plans to extend Colombo’s Marine Drive coastal road to Moratuwa alongside the long-delayed Port Access Road project, Transport and Highways Minister Bimal Rathnayake announced this week.
Speaking at a media briefing on Tuesday, Mr. Rathnayake said the Port Access Road would link the city’s expressway network to the urban core through Galle Face and the Lotus Roundabout. Although the government had provided all the necessary facilities, the contractor handling the project was delaying construction citing various reasons, the minister said, according to Newswire.
Issues remained in the road’s initial design, and studies on access points and land acquisition had already begun, he said. The contractor has now indicated that the entrance segment of the Port Access Road can be completed by August 2026. The remaining stretch from the Port Access Road to the Galle Face–Lotus Roundabout — assigned to a different contractor — is scheduled to be finished by mid-2027.
Once the road is connected to the Lotus Roundabout, a feasibility study will be carried out on the impact of increased traffic flowing into central Colombo, the minister said. The proposed extension of Marine Drive south to Moratuwa is intended to absorb that additional volume and ease congestion in the capital.
The announcement comes as the government is also pressing ahead with related public-transport projects, including a new metro bus depot at Kadawatha and a planned automated tolling system on the expressway network.
