Southern Expressway earns record income
April 13, 2014 08:32 pm
A record 24,000 vehicles have traveled on the Southern Expressway within 24 hours from 6.00am yesterday to 6.00am today generating an income of Rs 5.8 million, in the wake of the government’s slashing of toll fees for the festive season.
The Ministry of Highways stated that the number of vehicles which had plied the expressway within the past 24 hours is the highest numbers recorded since the opening of the Southern Expressway.
The reason for the spike in vehicles using the expressway is due to the government’s decision to charge a reduced fee from all categories of vehicles on the country’s Expressways from April 10 to 25, on a directive by President Mahinda Rajapaksa.
The Road Development Authority (RDA) said that a reduced fee of Rs 200 will be charged from Colombo to Katunayake, Rs 400 from Matara to Kaduwela, Rs 350 from Kottawa to Matara and Rs 300 from Kottawa to Galle.
According to the Annual Report of the Central Bank of Sri Lanka the Southern Expressway has earned a daily income of Rs. 3.4 million in 2013 and that around 8,700 vehicles have used the expressway per day.
If the daily income has been Rs. 3.4 million it could be speculated that the income derived by the government from this expressway in 2013 is nearly Rs. 1200 million.
The Southern Expressway has now been extended from Kottawa to Godagama in Matara.
