Sri Lanka highways authority funds drained by overstaffing: official

May 06, 2008 (LBO) – Sri Lanka's road development bureaucracy is hugely overstaffed and a drain on public funds and unable to effectively maintain the island's road network, a senior government official says. Sirisena Amarasekera, secretary, ministry of highways and road development, says there are around 10,000 people, including maintenance workers, in highway and road development institutions in the island to manage 11,000 kilometres of highways.

By contrast, India, with over 66,000 kilometres of highways, has only 700 in its National Highways Authority (NHAI).

Amarasekera says Sri Lanka's state highways institutions spend over 200 million rupees a month on highway maintenance of which a major share is spent on salaries and wages.

"…so what is left for the material and machinery is very limited and that is why the roads are in bad condition."

Amarasekera was speaking at a recent news conference to announce an agreement between NHAI and Sri Lanka's Road Development Authority (RDA).

The five year agreement covers technical and scientific cooperation in the fields of highway construction, maintenance and management of roads, a statement by the RDA said.

The agreement