The first phase of a Chinese project to build a ‘Central Expressway’ in Sri Lanka has sharply increased by 12 million rupees, after the government failed to make savings on other projects reports the Sunday Times.
The Sri Lankan government is till currently in talks with China’s Exim Bank to fund the first phase of the expressway, which is a 37.1 km stretch from Kadawatha to Mirigama. However, the government’s failure to plan for a 12km viaduct and to make savings on the third phase of the project has led to a grand total of Rs. 158 billion or US$ 1.1 billion.
The Sri Lankan government awarded the contract to China’s Metallurgical Construction Company (MCC) with no bidding process present.
After initially claiming it would save more than 30% from the third phase of the project, the Sri Lankan government was quickly forced to backtrack. “The savings anticipated reduced a lot,” said Prof. Saman Bandara, then Road Development Authority (RDA) Chairman. “Cost went up and savings went down… It kept changing.”
Despite the significantly raised costs, the Sri Lankan government is “steaming ahead” with the project reports the Sunday Times.
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