Highways Minister wants those who dig up roads to meet cost of repairs

Highways Minister Johnston Fernando yesterday said that he would introduce new laws to compel the Water Board, Ceylon Electricity Board and private telecom companies to bear the cost of repairing the roads that were damaged by them.

Addressing a meeting at the Ministry in Battaramulla, the minister said that he had received a large number of complaints from the general public that the CEB, the Water Board and telecom companies damaged roads for their service needs and not even the newly carpeted roads had been spared. “They dig up the roads to lay underground cables, water lines and power supply lines. Thereafter, they patch up the roads and leave. After a rain or two those places become puddles and the roads become impassable and causing great inconvenience to the people. The funds spent by the ministry to renovate roads go down the drain as a result. This practice has to be stopped. We intend to bring new laws to make those companies to pay for the cost of repairs, which should be carried out under the inspection of the Road Development Authority officials.”

The Minister instructed Director Maintenance and Management Mangala Marasinghe to prepare a set of guidelines to be given to the private companies which intended to cut and dig roads for their service needs.