A short bridge over the Kollupitiya Railway Station will extend the road to Colombo Fort. The Marine Drive is to be extended from Kollupitiya junction to Ranmuthu Hotel by the end of this year, the Road Development Authority yesterday said.
The construction which had come to a halt on the other end in Dehiwela will also be continued soon, with a feasibility study being conducted to extend the road to Panadura within the next six months. Providing compensation to a number of land owners and the acquisition of land from Dehiwela had temporarily halted the construction of the road.
Project Director, K. Selvanathan said that an estimated cost of Rs. 2.3 billion is to be spent on land acquisition from Kollupitiya which is to be obtained from the Asian Development Bank as a loan.
Construction of the road is to avoid historical land marks such as the Galle Face Hotel by constructing the road on reclaimed land.
The entire Marine Drive project is being supervised by the RDA with the Colombo Municipal Council handling the construction on the RDA’S instructions. Attempts to contact Municipal officials for a comment
Source : http://epaper.dailymirror.lk/epaper/viewer.aspx