SL’s longest bridge to open on Thursday

Colombo: The Sri Lanka-Japan Friendship Peace Bridge, the country's longest bridge constructed by the Government at a cost of Rs.1.3 billion linking the Northern and Eastern Province across the Mahaweli Ganga at Manampitiya will be declared open to the public on Thursday.
Following a request made by Agriculture Development and Agrarian Services Minister Maithripala Sirisena who was then Mahaweli Minister, negotiations commenced with the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) in 2000 for the construction of a new bridge at this location, a Ministry spokesman told the Daily News yesterday.

President Mahinda Rajapaksa who was then Prime Minister ceremonially launched the construction work on the new bridge in October 26, 2005. The Government with the assistance of the Japanese Government was able to complete the construction work on country's longest bridge within two years.
The total length of Manampitiya bridge is 302 m. while the width of the bridge is 10.4m. The Manampitiya bridge is located at the 81st Km of Maradankadawala, Habarana-Thirikondiyadimadu road in the Polonnaruwa district'.

Therefore, this is a very important bridge on the Polonnaruwa-Batticaloa main road which is one of few main entrances to the Eastern Province,' the spokesman said. The existing single-lane Manampitiya bridge is used both as a railway and highway crossing.

As a result when a train crosses the bridge, road vehicles and pedestrians are unable to use it, resulting in a bottleneck, resulting in slow traffic flows including buses and freight transportation.
In order to overcome this situation, steps were taken by the Government to construct this new bridge at Manampitiya which was funded by the Japanese Government.

The construction of country's longest bridge was completed within a span of two years .It is a gift given to Sri Lankans by the Japanese Government, he added.

The Manampitiya bridge will be vested in the public by Minister Maithripala Sirisena and Highways and Road Development Minister Jeyaraj Fernandopulle at a ceremony to be held on Thursday, 25 at 2.00 pm.