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SL gets 40 years to repay Kelani Bridge project loan

17 Nov 2021

  • JICA lends ¥ 35 billion at a 0.1% interest rate
  • Grace period of 10 years provided
By Shenal Fernando The new Kelani Bridge project was funded by a Japanese loan amounting to ¥ 35 billion (Japanese Yen), which carries an interest rate of 0.1% per annum for the civil works component and at a 0.01% interest rate per annum for the consultancy component, as well as a repayment period of 40 years including a grace period of 10 years. The special term for economic partnership (STEP) concessionary official development assistant (ODA) loan was granted to Sri Lanka by the Japan International Co-operation Agency (JICA). These details were announced by JICA Sri Lanka Senior Project Specialist Namal Ralapanawe at a press conference hosted by JICA Sri Lanka on Monday (15). Speaking at the press briefing, Ministry of Highways Secretary R.W.R. Pemasiri claimed that this project had resulted in the actual transfer of technology to local engineers and praised the two Japanese contractors for the work done and their high safety standards due to which there had been zero fatal incidents during the project period. Commenting further, he stated: “This bridge will ultimately connect the Colombo-Katunayake Expressway and the Colombo Port and Port City (Colombo). On the other hand, this will also connect with the Athurugiriya interchange of the Outer Circular Highway and ultimately be the centrepoint for this expressway network. It will ease traffic congestion on Baseline (Road), including container traffic. The Government is planning to construct a customs inspection centre near Kerawalapitiya, and all the containers will go to Kerawalapitiya through this bridge.” The new bridge across the Kelani River in Peliyagoda is the first extradosed bridge to be built in Sri Lanka and the first bridge constructed using the Balance Cantilever Method Form Traveller. This bridge, which boasts the longest bridge span without piers, consists of the largest pile cap constructed in a bridge in Sri Lanka. Located at a chokepoint for traffic entering Colombo from Gampaha, the bridge was constructed to address the inadequate capacity of the existing bridge to cater to the increased number of vehicles entering the city of Colombo after the opening of the Colombo-Katunayake Expressway. Moreover, the bridge project – composed of two sections: a six-lane extradosed concrete bridge section and a four-lane steel bridge section – is expected to reduce the average time to travel the 2 km distance from the Colombo-Katunayake Expressway to the Orugodawatta Intersection to four minutes from the current 20-minute levels. It is also expected to increase the average speed in travelling that section of the road from 5-10 km per hour to 20-45 km per hour. According to the feasibility study conducted in 2013, the economic internal rate of return (EIRR) value of the project is 16.7% while the benefit-over-cost ratio is 2:01. According to Project Director Darshika Jayasekara, the extradosed design enabled the bridge to span the entire width of the river without a single pier in water. She further stated that while the advanced technology incorporated in the project was remarkable, the equal involvement of both Japanese and Sri Lankan engineers has ensured the sustainable transfer of technology. Commenting further, she recognised that the project was scheduled to be completed in 2020, but numerous obstacles in the form of the Easter Sunday attacks, the Covid-19 pandemic, and extreme floods played a part in pushing the completion of the project to 2021.


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