The Cabinet has approved two contracts worth a combined Rs. 2.026 billion to rehabilitate 25.63 kilometres of the Colombo–Galle–Hambantota–Wellawaya road (A002) under the National Highways Widening and Improvement Programme, the government said on Tuesday.
A Rs. 1,207.74 million contract has been awarded to MS RR Construction (Pvt) Ltd to rehabilitate and improve a 13.3-kilometre stretch between Kamburugamuwa and Dewinuwara. Four bids were received and the High-Level Procurement Committee recommended the substantially responsive lowest bidder.
A separate Rs. 818.23 million contract has gone to M/s Rathna-Suhada Joint Venture Civil Engineers & Contractors (Pvt) Ltd for a 12.33-kilometre stretch between Talalla and Kudawella. Seven bids were received for that section.
Both proposals were presented by the Minister of Transport, Highways and Urban Development. The A2 is the southern coastal trunk road and serves as the principal alternative to the tolled Southern Expressway, carrying tourist traffic to Mirissa and Tangalle, fisheries movements through Kudawella harbour, and commercial freight to Hambantota.
The Kudawella section overlaps with the area where a fisheries-harbour shooting was reported on Tuesday, and the road segments form part of a coastline that has seen sustained tourism investment since 2023. The contracts also follow the Southern Expressway’s emergency move to a single lane between Gelanigama and Dodangoda for repairs on May 1, putting fresh stress on the parallel A2 alignment.
Tuesday’s approvals form part of a broader push to lift national-highway throughput at a moment when the transport ministry is targeting a substantial reduction in road accidents and deaths by 2029.
