Cutting Congestion, Boosting Trade

Growth-hampering traffic congestions

While transport and logistics are huge drivers of Sri Lanka’s economy, they rely on an effective road network.

The country’s road transport accounts for 93% of the estimated 80 billion passenger-kilometers in passenger traffic and 97% of freight traffic.

As in most cities, road congestion is a huge problem in Sri Lanka’s capital, Colombo. Most economic activities occur there, with half of Sri Lanka’s urban population living in the city of 2.3 million people. The steady economic growth has boosted the number of registered vehicles and rapidly worsened traffic congestion in Colombo city, especially in the morning and evening peak hours. Traffic volume on major arterial roads is almost at capacity, and the average traffic speed is less than 10 km per hour during peak hours at many intersections.

Most of the outbound traffic to the northeast of the city concentrates on three bridges across the Kelani River running through the north of the city, they have become bottlenecks of transportation. The limited access route to the port and the national highway network radiating out from Colombo create the unnecessary concentration of through-traffic in the congested city. In essence, gridlock.

In particular, the New Kelani Bridge has always been heavily congested since it is a crossroad connecting four major routes: A01 Road leading to the country’s second largest city Kandy, A03 Road to the international airport, Port Access Road, and Baseline Road running through Colombo.

The congestion is becoming even worse after the bridge was connected to Colombo Katunayaka Expressway (CKE) that links the city and the international airport in November 2013. Therefore, it is urgent to make traffic flow around the New Kelani Bridge more smoothly by constructing a new bridge.

Inadequate transport infrastructure could cost the Sri Lankan economy 3.5% annually.

Gridlocks on Colombo’s critical trade and logistics route hamper trade—one of the main drivers of Sri Lanka’s economy.

A new bridge

In line with the government’s national strategy, ADB and the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) are supporting the South Asia Subregional Economic Cooperation (SASEC) Port Access Elevated Highway Project. ADB financed the SASEC Port Access Elevated Highway, while JICA financed the construction of a New Kelani Bridge and an elevated access road over the Kelani River. The Japan Fund for Prosperous and Resilient Asia and the Pacific (JFPR) also supports an attached technical assistance to the project, Supporting Trade Logistics Facilitation.

“Poor road networks are holding back Sri Lankan trade and economic growth,” said Kanzo Nakai, ADB senior transport specialist for South Asia. “The new highway will boost Sri Lankan trade and economic growth with a new expressway connecting the port and Colombo’s city center.”

An advanced electronic toll collection (ETC) system will be installed on the elevated toll highway and will eventually be installed on the entire expressway network. The project will upgrade about 1.4 km of the ground-level port access road from four to six lanes.

Financing partners are supporting the construction of an elevated highway to ease traffic congestion in Colombo.

New systems and partnerships to facilitate trade

Once finished, the project will help alleviate traffic congestion in the densely populated areas around the international port, and also improve logistics connectivity between the international gateway and potential economic hinterland along the expressway network.

Better roads and highways will not be enough. The project also includes the improvement of customs practices. Sri Lanka’s trade facilitation is better than other countries in the region but lags behind many Southeast Asian economies. Two separate but related technical assistance related to the project are helping improve trade facilitation and the tolling operation capacity of expressways.

The JFPR-supported technical assistance, Supporting Trade Logistics Facilitation, prepares diagnostic studies, standard operating procedures; provides capacity building to improve risk management practices; conducts a feasibility study for a new customs inspection facility to improve process flow and timeliness; and studies the technical design and business case for an electronic cargo tracking system to monitor and facilitate cargo movement to and from the port. The Expressway Operations Improvement Project helps strengthen the operational capacity of the expressway regarding its toll rate policy and the ETC system.

Sri Lanka’s active participation in the South Asia Association for Regional Cooperation, the Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multi-Sectorial Technical and Economic Cooperation, and SASEC has been helping build connectivity with neighboring countries and the rest of Asia. ADB has supported regional and integration projects through the SASEC program.