Cancellation of the light rail between Fort and Malabe – Some alternative options to reduce traffic

By Dr Janaka Ratnasiri

(Continued from yesterday)

If the Cabinet wishes to cancel the project for other reasons, it certainly has the right to do so, but should say so directly without giving invalid justifications putting the blame on environmental issues. This will naturally undermine the credibility of the Cabinet. Needless to say, it will make foreign governments losing trust in and respect for Sri Lanka which certainly will not do any good for the country.

It may be recalled that the vision of some of our past leaders was to make Colombo another Singapore with high rise buildings scattered all over. Having an LRT was a part of this vision as such urban rail systems are common in other countries including India. The Ministry of Megapolis was established for the purpose of converting Colombo into a mega-city.

With this mandate given to the Minister-in-charge, naturally he had to initiate this LRT project to emulate other cities, which the present Government is not willing to support. Hence, it is far better to tell the Japanese Government that the present government has other priorities and does not wish to pursue the project rather than cancel it giving flimsy excuses.

For example, many parts of the city get inundated whenever the city receives heavy rainfall as witnessed recently. This is despite the government spending many billions of rupees to improve the drainage around the city, but with little success. As described by the writer in his article appearing in the Island of 21.07.2020, a master plan study on flood protection in the city undertaken by JICA at great cost ended up in cleaning canals around Borelesgamuwa and Rattanapitiya but nothing in the city! Hence, there is much more to be done to solve this problem after understanding the issues properly.

REDUCE WORKERS COMING TO THE CITY FOR WORK

With the cancellation of the LRT system, the government will have to look for alternative ways and means of reducing the traffic heading to the city. Such traffic will comprise people coming for work, attend to business matters, purchasing goods as well as those passing through from the South to the North and vice-versa.

During President J R Jayewardena’s tenure, both the Parliament as well as several administrative complexes were brought to Battaramulla with a view to easing traffic heading towards the city. But many of the commercial premises are still located in the city and they may be encouraged to have branch offices in suburbs where customers could get their services without travelling to the city. Today, on-line transactions are becoming popular and people should be encouraged to use such services as most people today are in possession of smart hand-phones through which such services could be obtained.

During the curfew which was imposed island-wide for several months because of the COVID 19 issue, all the offices both in the public and private sectors were closed down and the staff were asked to work on-line at home without having to be present physically in the offices except for a few to attend to urgent business. This brought down drastically the number of people travelling to the city for work.

This practice could continue wherever possible making it optional for the staff to attend the offices only once or twice a week. It is economical for the government to provide concessionary loans to the staff who do not possess IT facilities at home enabling them to attend to their office work from home. This however needs self-discipline among the work force and the government will have to introduce new mechanism to monitor the work being done from home. By implementing these proposals, the number of people coming to the city daily could be significantly reduced.

MAKING FORT AREA ACCESSIBLE TO EXISTING HIGHWAYS

With the construction of the Outer Colombo Highway linking the Southern Expressway with Kadawatha and Kerawalapitiya, traffic from the South heading for North or Kandy and vice-versa could do so without entering the city, again reducing the city-bound traffic. An elevated highway is being planned from the New Kelani Bridge (NKB) to Rajagiriya with a later extension to Athurugiriya Exit of the Southern Highway. It also has a spur to Dematagoda. These could be used by motorists travelling on highways to enter the city.

Another highway is being planned from Orugodawatta Junction of the NKB ending up at Galle Face to take Fort-bound traffic. This highway going past Kotahena will have an access to the Port and it will be mostly container traffic heading towards Colombo Port that will be using this highway. With the increasing number of 5/7 star tourist hotels recently built or under construction in Fort, Slave Island and Kollupitiya areas, a considerable amount of tourist traffic is also expected from the airport to this area of the city. Also, there will be many local passengers coming along Negombo Road and Kandy Road heading towards Fort. Instead of building an elevated light rail system for them, an extension to the existing highway as proposed could be built.

The writer proposed to the Road Development Authority (RDA) an alternative trace for a new highway linking the NKB with Fort, when public comments were invited for the new elevated highway, but without receiving any response. The NKB could be extended with a highway built on pillars over St. Sebastian Canal commencing from the Orugodawatte Junction up to Panchikawatta. It could then be diverted parallel to the Panckikawatte Road and cross the Maradana Road and the railway lines on pillars and terminating on Wljeyawardane Mawata. Exits could be provided for traffic moving along this link both towards Fort and Darley Road.

By this means, traffic coming from the Airport Highway as well as from Kandy Road could have access to Fort within the shortest possible time. Even the traffic coming in the Southern Highway could reach Fort using this link after coming along the proposed elevated highway via Rajagiriya from Athurugiriya exit. Motorists and buses from Malabe, Battaramulla and Rajagiriya could use this highway to reach Fort making the LRT train redundant.

REDUCE THE NUMBER OF BUSES COMING TO THE CITY

Currently, all the long-distance buses coming to Colombo have their destination as Pettah. This needs not be so, as it increases congestion in Pettah and also creates a problem for the private buses to find parking space to wait until they get their turn for the return trip. The long-distance buses coming from the North and East along Negombo Road and Kandy Road could terminate their travel at a bus stand built at a suitable location north of the Kelani Bridge.

Similarly, buses coming from the South and SE along the Galle Road, Horana Road, High Level Road and Low-Level Road could terminate their travel at a bus stand built at a suitable location south of the city. A shuttle service could link these two bus stands which are routed through different points in the city such as Pettah, Fort, Slave Island, Town Hall, Maradana, Kollupitiya, Bambalapitiya, Thimbirigasyaya etc. This shuttle service should run continuously at short intervals in both clockwise and anti-clockwise directions through these locations. A traveler reaching the city could use this shuttle service to get to any place within the city.

Ideally, such a circular shuttle service could be provided by an elevated LRT system operating within the city only rather than in radial routes as proposed in the current project. This service will, however, benefit only the bus travelers because with the availability of highways island-wide, the motorists will continue to use them. But it will solve the parking problem for private buses plying on long-distance routes waiting for their turn.

The other option is to re-introduce the trolley bus service which provided a very good service in the fifties and early sixties. It was an electrically operated system with power supplied by overhead lines and managed by the Colombo Municipal Council. Regrettably, it was closed down as a solution to an industrial dispute with the workers and the buses sold for scrap. If properly designed and managed, a trolly bus service could serve as a shuttle service, which will be cheaper to introduce and manage than an LRT system.

CONCLUSION

The decision of the Cabinet to cancel the LRT project may be desirable when there are alternative means to reduce traffic heading for Fort area. However, it is important that the Cabinet divulges the real reasons for taking such a decision without hiding behind environment issues.

The government should also give priority to implement projects that would reduce inflow of traffic to the city such as on-line working and on-line transactions and on-line purchases. Priority should also be given to complete the planned and on-going projects to build highways that would divert traffic coming to the city.

The government should also give serious thought to terminate long-distance buses before entering the city and run an efficient shuttle service for the benefit of travelers coming in these buses to get to different locations in the city and as a link between the two terminals.