Highway of disputes finally moves ahead with local contractor
The Government is going ahead with the construction of the much delayed Central Express Highway’s third phase from Pothuhara to Galagedara which has been marred by tender issues involving initially with Japanese backing—through the Bank of Tokyo‑Mitsubishi and contractors like Taisei Corp. and Fujita Corporation.
The new administration has decided to implement the 13.8 km of expressway project under three packages for the construction work with state funds by awarding the contract to the lowest responsive bidder, Maga Engineering (Pvt) Ltd after competitive bidding, an official of the Ministry of Transport and Highways disclosed. Maga Engineering’s award marks a shift in government strategy toward transparent and efficient execution of essential transport infrastructure.
The Central expressway Phase111 spans 33 km in distance and has four interchanges at Pothuhera, Polgahawela, Rambukkana and Galagedera.
The 13.8 km stretch of express highway from Pothuhera to Rmbukkana is now being constructed by local contractors under 19 contract packages to complete it next year.
The previous government had sought a loan equivalent of US$ 1 billion from the Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi UFJ Ltd (BTMU) in 2019 for the project. But during discussions with the Japanese team Sri Lanka sought to obtain more favourable terms from BTMU.
Fujita Corporation, the Japanese construction company which offered a lower bid in the previous tender called by former President Ranil Wickremesinghe’s government to build the stretch of road in Central Expressway phase 111, had been rejected by a tender evaluation committee on the grounds that it was unqualified to implement such a massive project.
Only the bid offered by another Japanese company, Taisei Corporation was awarded the contract at that time. Taisei’s price was Rs. 159 billion while Fujita quoted lower at Rs. 147 billion.
Moreover, the third phase of the central expressway was awarded to Taisei Corporation by using a commercial loan from the Tokyo Mitsubishi Bank.
In a controversial decision the then Ministry of Highways resorted to a Government-to-Government method with Japan competitive bidding cancelling the previous tender.
The Sri Lanka Central expressway project saddled with irregularities and malpractices was dragging amidst disparities on loan conditions between Sri Lanka and Japan since 2016.
Finally the then Government removed Japan from funding the Phase III of the Central express way in 2020 awarding the contract to a local consortium of contractors but that was also stalled.
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