The Hon. Bimal Rathnayake
Hon. Bimal Rathnayake provided a written answer on the Liyangastota Bridge, stating that construction began in December 2017 under SD&CC and has reached about 75 per cent physical progress, with completion dates revised from June 2019 to July 2022. He detailed the original and revised institutional responsibilities under Cabinet decisions in 2017 and 2020, the contract value and balance-work estimates, and identified the relevant ministers at those times. He said the contractor halted work in January 2023, mutual termination is being pursued, a 2025 estimate for remaining work is being prepared, and the completed structure is reported to be stable.
Verbatim record (translated)
Machine-translated from Sinhala / Tamil / English¶ 01 Hon. Speaker, the answer is as follows:
¶ 02 (a) (i) As per Cabinet Decision No. 17/2617/702/002-XXXI dated 05.12.2017, the construction of the Liyangastota Bridge has been carried out by the State Development and Construction Corporation (SD&CC). The physical progress of the bridge can be broadly stated as 75%. The bridge is located across the Walawe River on the boundary between Hambantota and Ratnapura Districts. It is a five-span bridge, approximately 16.5 metres in length and 11 metres in width, with four piers and two abutments.
¶ 03 (ii) Commencement date: 25.12.2017. Scheduled completion date: 03.06.2019. As per Cabinet Decision No. MP/20/0861/206/037, the scheduled completion was revised to 21.07.2022.
¶ 04 (iii) Original contract amount: Rs. 270,948,715.11. The revised estimate for balance works as at 2020: Rs. 194,894,221.37. The estimate for balance works for 2025 is being prepared.
¶ 05 (iv) At commencement in 2017, as per Cabinet Decision No. 17/2617/702/002-XXXI (05.12.2017), the parties were: 1) Employer – National Housing Development Authority (Ministry of Housing and Construction); 2) Consultant – Road Development Authority (then under the Ministry of Higher Education and Highways); 3) Contractor – State Development & Construction Corporation (Ministry of Housing and Construction).
¶ 06 (v) In 2020, pursuant to Cabinet Decision No. MP/20/0861/206/037, the parties were revised to: 1) Employer – Road Development Authority (Ministry of Highways); 2) Consultant – Road Development Authority (Ministry of Highways); 3) Contractor – State Development & Construction Corporation (Ministry of Construction, Engineering Services, Housing and Common Amenities).
¶ 07 The Minister in charge in 2017 (Housing and Construction) was Hon. Sajith Premadasa. Following the 2020 Cabinet decision, the Minister of Highways was Hon. Johnston Fernando.
¶ 08 (vi) Physical progress is 75%. Piers and abutments have been completed up to deck level. Concrete has been cast for two spans only.
¶ 09 (vii) The contractor halted construction in January 2023. Steps are being taken to terminate the contract by mutual termination agreement. Materials brought for the bridge have been utilized in works completed up to approximately 75%. Completed works remain in stable condition, with no reported destruction.
¶ 10 (viii) Not applicable.
¶ 11 (b) Does not arise.
Provenance
- Source
- Hansard, Tuesday, 11 March 2025 ·No. 1743759139093629 ·English daily/uncorrected Hansard
- Page · column
- not yet extracted — page/column anchors are not in the current dataset; the source PDF is the citable location.
- Permalink
/lk/speeches/18918
Cite as: The Hon. Bimal Rathnayake. 10th Parliament, Parliament of Sri Lanka. Hansard, 11 March 2025. No. 1743759139093629. Politick, https://staging.politick.io/lk/speeches/18918