The public will be afforded an opportunity of visiting the Matara Colombo Expressway from the next weekend.
President Rajapaksa is due to declare open the 32 kilometre stretch of the Second Stage of the Southern Expressway from Pinnaduwa to Matara on the 15th of this month. Construction work on this stretch of the road has already been completed and the expenditure incurred by the Government on this work was 18,700 million rupees.
The public will be permitted to walk on this stretch of the Expressway for two days from the 8th of this month. Various competitions will be organized on the highway in addition to several cultural pageants. The public will be permitted to view these events.
Expressing views on a discussion held in this connection, Minister Dulles Alahapperuma said that they had to wait for 62 years after gaining independence to construct the first Expressway. India, Singapore and Malaysia started building Expressways after gaining independence within a very short period. If not for President Rajapaksa, the 62 year long wait would have become 100 years.
With the opening of the stretch of the Expressway from Pinnaduwa to Matara, the public will be able to travel to Matara from Colombo within a short period of one and a half hours. The highway will not stop at Matara. It is planned to be next extended to Hambantota. The highway network will further speed up development in the country.
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