COLOMBO, Oct. 13 (Xinhua) -- The Cabinet of Sri Lanka on Tuesday approved a proposal by Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa to establish an Expressway Investment Company.
The cabinet of ministers approved the proposal by Prime Minister and Minister of Finance Mahinda Rajapaksa to establish an investment company to raise funds for the construction of highways.
The proposed investment company will be solely owned by the Secretary to the Treasury and is expected to generate revenue from expressway tolls and other services tied to expressways.
Around 0.5 percent to 1 percent of Sri Lanka's GDP is spent on the construction of highways in order to build the necessary infrastructure for industries, trade and services in rural areas.
The government plans to complete construction of the Central Expressway from the commercial capital of Colombo to the central city of Kandy in the next few years.
Expressways are also planned from Colombo to the south-western town of Ratnapura, and from the town of Kelaniya to Athurugiriya within the Western Province.
In addition, the government plans to construct 100,000 km of rural roads. Enditem
