The Hon. Sunil Rathnasiri

¶ 01 Hon. Deputy Speaker, I thank Hon. Gayantha Karunathilleka for expressing the Opposition’s common view supporting these two regulations — saying they should have been brought earlier, but are welcome now. Many things which could not be done during their time are being accomplished now.

¶ 02 Sri Lanka has over 119,000 km of roads, of which about 82,000 km are rural. Many had deteriorated. Annually, over 23,000 road accidents occur — on average more than 64 per day — with about 2,500 deaths per year, over six lives lost daily.

¶ 03 One major factor is road weakness. Analysing accidents, in some cases there is suspicion of drug use by drivers. Thus, passing the law against driving under the influence of drugs is critical. In 2025, Police seized over 17,000 kg of cannabis, over 3,800 kg of ICE, over 1,800 kg of heroin, and more than 4,048,000 illicit pills and capsules. The daily toll of accidents raises concerns about the link between drug use and crashes.

¶ 04 Under rural road development, in the past year in Polonnaruwa District we completed about 29 km of carpeting at a cost of Rs. 1,112 million. The “Kotaligiyai” bridge became notorious worldwide; people fell and died from the timber bridge — including university students and bus passengers. When a journalist asked the then Minister why it wasn’t rebuilt, he retorted, “Where is the money? Find the funds and we will do it.” We have now commenced the bridge with an estimate of Rs. 382 million, negotiated the contract down to Rs. 250 million, and started work.

¶ 05 We also commenced the Elahera and Gama Ela bridges — estimates Rs. 139 million, contract reduced to Rs. 100 million. Likewise, the Gallalla bridge — estimate Rs. 348 million, contract reduced to Rs. 207 million. In 2025 alone we spent over Rs. 1,768 million on bridges and roads in Polonnaruwa, including the bridge on the Habarana–Maduru Oya road and Medirigiriya road.

¶ 06 As 2025 ends and 2026 begins, both Government and Opposition can offer fair assessments. At the start of 2025 the President pledged to make it the year of highest tourist arrivals; we achieved over 2,333,000 — the highest since 2018. He pledged the highest worker remittances; we achieved over USD 7 billion. He pledged the highest government revenue in 48 years since 1977, with the lowest budget deficit; the Inland Revenue exceeded its Rs. 2,203 billion target, and Customs exceeded a revised Rs. 2,200 billion to reach Rs. 2,497 billion. Exports targeted USD 17 billion and have been achieved.

¶ 07 Some in the Opposition think verbosity, insults and disparaging the Chair are signs of skill. If so, then Mervyn Silva, Thisakutti Arachchi, and Johnston Fernando should be in Parliament rather than elsewhere.

¶ 08 Despite Cyclone “Ditcha,” on 1 January 2026, for the first time in history, we commenced 76 rural roads nationwide with an allocation of Rs. 5,000 million. Thank you, Hon. Deputy Speaker.