Hon. Deputy Minister of Transport, Highways and Urban Developments Visits NBRI to Inspect Landslide Mitigation Design Works; Restoration Efforts Fast-Tracked for Road and Rail Networks

The Honorable Deputy Minister of ransport, Highways and Urban Developments, Dr. Prasanna Gunasekara, visited the National Building Research Institute (NBRI) today to review the progress of technical mitigation designs aimed at restoring landslide-damaged transport infrastructure across the country.

More than 70 professionals, including specialists from NBRI, the Road Development Authority (RDA), the Sri Lanka Railways Department (SLR), and the Sri Lankan Army are currently working at NBRI to finalize these critical designs and cost estimates.

During the visit, the Deputy Minister was briefed on the extensive scale of the design work, which includes:

Main Roads – Approximately 400 landslide locations have been identified along the main road network, with about 170 sites classified as major damage locations requiring complex engineering solutions. To date, mitigation designs for 35 major locations have been completed.

Railway Network – Approximately 70 damage locations have been recorded along the railway line from Rambukkana to Badulla. With the primary focus of restoration of train services between Colombo and Peradeniya, as well as the Badulla–Nanu Oya sector, 22 priority locations have been identified that require urgent stabilization measures. Among these, the detailed designs of 11 locations have been completed to date.

NBRI has set a firm target to complete and hand over the majority of technical designs to the RDA and the Railway Department by 31 March 2026.

While acknowledging public concerns regarding the time required for restoration work, the Deputy Minister emphasized that the complexity of the damage requires stable, long-term engineering solutions rather than temporary repairs, in order to minimize future risks.

The visit was attended by Eng. (Dr.) Asiri Karunawardena, Director General of NBRI, together with Mr. Abeydeera, Additional Director General of RDA and other senior officials of NBRI, RDA, and SLR.