Three bridges of Southern highway to be rebuilt by contractor

Parliament was yesterday told that three bridges on the Southern Highway would be rebuilt with expenses borne by the contractor Kumagai Gumi as they were sub-standard.
However, it was unclear what action would be taken regarding the other bridges that were found to be unsound by the Committee appointed to investigate the collapse of a metal arch bridge earlier this year.
Highways Ministry Committee concluding preliminary investigations into the collapse of a brand new metal arch bridge located in Poddala on the Southern Highway, and 72 other such bridges, had concluded that nearly 27 of them need to be replaced with concrete structures costing billions of rupees to its Contractor Kumagai Gumi.
The collapse of the Poddala metal arch bridge occurred on May 26, causing the death of a youth, and injuring another. It was reported that the consultants to the Southern Transport Development Project - Roughton International of the United Kingdom had requested the contractor to replace the collapsed structure with a concrete structure at the contractor’s own cost as it was revealed that the mishap occurred due to the carelessness of the contractor- Kumagai Gumi Co Ltd.