President inaugurates OCH project
by Rasika Somaratne
President Mahinda Rajapaksa on the 07th of December, inaugurated the Outer-Circular Highway (OCH) project, another promise in the Mahinda Chinthana becoming a reality.
When fully completed, it is expected to connect the Colombo-Kandy expressway at Kadawatha and the Colombo-Katunayake expressway at Kerawalapitiya.
The full project is to be completed under three stages. It starts from the Southern expressway at Kottawa and traverses through Maharagama, Kaduwela, Biyagama, Mahara, Wattala DS areas and ends up at Kerawalapitiya. The total length of the OCH is 29.1 km.
This is expected to ease vehicular congestion and ensure speedy transport to important locations such as the Katunayake Airport.
The President addressing the gathering in a jubilant mood at Pelawatta Battaramulla after inaugurating the construction at Kaduwela said he will also be there to declare open it when completed.
He added that the Government’s development plans were being made not only to suit the needs of the people today and tomorrow but to meet the needs of the people in the course of the next 20 years as well.
He stressed that equity in development was the key and the Government’s development plans would ensure that facilities which were largely confined to Colombo earlier would equally be distributed to other parts as well.
The event was attended by a large number of Cabinet Ministers, area politicians and the public.
(Source: Daily News – 08th December, 2009)