The Hon. K. Sujith Sanjaya Perera

¶ 01 Hon. Deputy Speaker, I wish to share a few thoughts on the Private Member’s Motion brought by Hon. Hesha Withanage. This is a very timely motion. We know that beyond the estate districts themselves, a large population lives in villages adjacent to the plantations. Since the roads were handed over to plantation companies, proper maintenance has not happened, and, as far as I know, those companies bear no responsibility.

¶ 02 Hon. Deputy Speaker, though provincial councils and local authorities have attended to some repairs in certain instances, many of these roads are now in a severely dilapidated condition. Since the plantation companies do not take responsibility, these roads should be vested with the Government and maintained. Often, when the Government allocates funds to repair estate roads, very little attention is paid. In recent times, neither the Provincial Councils, the Road Development Authority, nor local authorities have given due attention.

¶ 03 Hon. Deputy Speaker, because companies do not maintain these roads, we request the Hon. Minister to consider this: the Government already collects a substantial amount in taxes from plantation companies—about Rs. 1.5 billion annually, as we understand. If these funds are effectively used, we could implement a maintenance programme. My view is that we should first rehabilitate these roads using Government funds and then require the plantation companies to undertake subsequent maintenance. Funds already channeled through the Government or the Road Development Authority have not been used for developing or maintaining these provincial-level roads.

¶ 04 Therefore, we ask that some Government funds—or the tax revenue obtained from the companies—be used to develop these roads and then assign their routine maintenance to the companies, which would be a practical approach. Otherwise, even when roads are built, maintenance does not take place, and works often stop midway. Provincial Councils lack funds, and local bodies too may not manage this satisfactorily.

¶ 05 If the Government allocates some money now to fully rehabilitate these roads and then hands over routine work to the plantation companies, this effort can succeed in practice. I therefore request urgent attention from the Minister and the Government, and I thank Hon. Hesha Withanage for bringing this motion. I conclude.