Kesbewa UC establishes road maintenance unit

A road maintenance unit has been established by the Kesbewa Urban Council to ensure roads coming under its purview are repaired and new roads are made to proper standards, the Kesbewa Urban Council yesterday said.

Chairman of the Urban Council, Lakshman Perera said the unit had been provided with the necessary equipment and the manpower to restore the roads. Close to Rs. 60 million had already been spent on the project so far, he said.

“The biggest problem that many of the residents have here is the bad roads and the Council has come to the decision that we have to protect and develop the existing roads before new ones could be laid,” he said.

Perera said the new unit was estab- lished in Madapata and that 18 roads had already been recarpeted by the unit. He said that contracts for road development would not be tendered to private parties as they could now repair and maintain their own roads.

“People will not be able to say that we gave the contract to the wrong contractors and that the road was not made to a proper standard,” he said. Perera said some of the roads made by private contractors had broken even before the work was completed and this had led to more expenses.

“Roads will always be broken and there will always be something to make. If we have not been able to keep our promises of making roads, it is mainly because we don’t have the funds to do so, not because we don’t want to,” Perera said.