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NPPD raises red flag over Ruwanpura and Central Expressways
View(s):The National Physical Planning Department (NPPD) of the Ministry of Megapolis and Western Development has voiced strong concerns about the proposed Ruwanpura Expressway of the Ministry of Highways. The trace cuts through the “central fragile areas” that are identified as crucial to conservation of the country’s water sources, the NPPD warns in letters to the Road Development Authority (RDA), Central Environmental Authority (CEA) and others. Therefore, large scale industries, major service sector developments and densely populated residential areas are discouraged in the region under the National Physical Plan (NPP) which is currently being updated.
The Ruwanpura Expressway is expected to run 73.9km from Kahathuduwa to Pelmadulla via Horana. The RDA’s official project sites states that a feasibility study is in its final stages, the environment impact assessment (EIA) is 70 percent finished and that survey and preliminary work is ongoing.
The feasibility study is being done by Maga Neguma Consultancy and Project Management Services Company (Pvt) Ltd. The company falls under the RDA which will implement the Ruwanpura Expressway. Its report does not provide a rationale for an expressway to Opanayake via Ratnapura, Kiriella and Ingiriya, authoritative sources said.
The NPPD has pointed out that four urban metro regions — other than the Western Megapolis — are proposed to be developed in Trincomalee-Polonnaruwa-Dambulla; Jaffna-Kilinochchi; Hambantota; and Batticaloa-Ampara. This will attract a major share of the country’s future population.
“Such attraction will result in depopulation trends in the study region within the next 30 years, and thereby cause a decrease in travel demand within the study area,” it states, referring to the regions the Ruwanpura Expressway will cut across. “The growth factors used in the feasibility study to forecast travel demand could have considered such trends.”
Pointing to the sensitivity of the region, the NPPD states that, even though the proposed expressway could be constructed with adequate mitigatory measures to minimise impact on the fragile environment, “the accessibility and mobility increased by the expressway will have negative impact in the entire region by means of promoting urbanisation and industrial developments and, thus, leading to land use changes, land fragmentation, green cover depletion, etc, which are highly detrimental to the conservation policy of the central fragile area”.
The NPPD has proposed the large-scale extension and modernisation of rail transport as an alternative. This would be less capital intensive and more beneficial than expressways in terms of economic gains and environmental impact. On preliminary analysis, the Department says, the proposed expressway is not an immediate need as the available infrastructure could serve travel and accessibility in the region for the next 10-15 years.
The Department has also expressed concerns about the third section of the Central Expressway (CE III) from Pothuhera to Galagedara. It states that a large share of the area affected by the proposed 32.5km road is within the fragile zone and central water catchment identified in the NPP.
It is necessary, therefore, to select lands that are not within risk areas and to avoid catchments of the tributaries of Maha Oya and Deduru Oya both in the project and in the process of resettling communities that will be displaced. The NPPD also calls for a detailed study regarding the traffic impact on Galagedara town as CE III is likely to discharge all Kandy-bound traffic in that area.