ECONOMYNEXT – Sri Lanka’s Road Development Authority has re-opened all major roads after Cyclone Ditwah, and the Kandy – Colombo road is open in the daytime from December 05, Director General Wimal Kandamby said.
Cyclone Ditwah had blocked 256 major roads in 298 places and 40 bridges were damaged.
Some roads were impassable due to flood inundation, but there were also rock falls, trees falling and landslides, he said.
By December 05, 252 locations had been cleared, Kandamby said.
“RDA staff, from Deputy Directors, to Provincial Directors, District Engineers, Executive Engineers, Technical Officers, Supervisors and labourers worked 24 hours to re-open these 252 roads,” he said during a discussion at Sri Lanka’s Government Information Department.
“In the next three days we will re-open all sections by working day and night.”
At the beginning Kandy, Nuwara Eliya, Anuradhapura and Puttalam was completely cut-off.
The Kandy Colombo Road was blocked due to landslides and rock falls in lower Kadugannawa and a subsidence in Yakkala near Colombo.
The road subsidence in the Western Province was fixed in three days and all four lanes were opened on December 05.
In Kadugannawa one lane was opened on December 04, under police supervision.
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Due to cars halting near large rockfalls for sightseeing which was dangerous, on December 04, traffic was limited to essential services.
From December 05, Kandy – Colombo road was opened for all traffic from 0600 am to 0600 pm.
From 600pm to the following morning 0600am RDA staff was clearing the road and blasting rock, which were very large, he said.
“The rocks are very large, and we have to blast them,” Kandamby said. “There are also large amounts of earth. It has to be done in a scientific way, otherwise more earth will come down and also endanger workers.”
The Kadugannawa section will only be open from 0600am to 0600pm until further notice, he said. (Colombo/Dec06/2025)
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