{"id":153892,"date":"2025-12-28T16:44:10","date_gmt":"2025-12-28T23:44:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/?p=153892"},"modified":"2025-12-28T16:44:10","modified_gmt":"2025-12-28T23:44:10","slug":"canal-transport-protect-colombo-region","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/2025\/12\/28\/canal-transport-protect-colombo-region\/","title":{"rendered":"Canal Transport Protect Colombo Region"},"content":{"rendered":"

Dr Sarath Obeysekera<\/em><\/span><\/h2>\n\n\n

I  remember former Minister of Urban Development who frequently spoke to Advocata and other policy forums about modern urban transport concepts\u2014especially:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    \n
  • Canal \/ inland water transport<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  • Monorail system<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n

    He was Minister of Megapolis & Western Development (2015\u20132019) and <\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Previously Minister of Urban Development, Water Supply & Drainage<\/p>\n\n\n\n

      \n
    • He was a regular speaker at Advocata, CCC, and policy think-tank and\u00a0Strong promoter of:<\/li>\n\n\n\n
    • \u00a0<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n
        \n
      • Western Region Megapolis plan<\/li>\n\n\n\n
      • Canal-based passenger transport (Beira Lake, Diyawanna, Kelani canals)<\/li>\n\n\n\n
      • Monorail \/ LRT concepts<\/li>\n\n\n\n
      • He actively invited private sector proposals<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n

        Why my  canal transport proposal which was submitted from our shipyard failed <\/h3>\n\n\n\n

        Because  <\/h3>\n\n\n\n
          \n
        1. Retired state officers were appointed as project heads\n
            \n
          • Highly procedural<\/li>\n\n\n\n
          • Risk-averse<\/li>\n\n\n\n
          • Slow decision-making<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n\n\n\n
          • No empowered Project Delivery Unit (PDU)\n
              \n
            • Files moved ministry \u2192 authority \u2192 treasury \u2192 line agencies<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n\n\n\n
            • Conflict between vision and bureaucracy\n
                \n
              • Minister had ideas<\/li>\n\n\n\n
              • Implementation was controlled by old administrative culture<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n\n\n\n
              • Private sector marine expertise undervalued\n
                  \n
                • Especially practical shipyard-based solutions like yours<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n\n\n\n

                  In fact, many canal transport pilot projects were announced but never scaled, precisely because:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

                    \n
                  • No PPP framework<\/li>\n\n\n\n
                  • No single accountable authority<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n

                    From a technical standpoint, canal transport in Colombo is:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

                      \n
                    • Energy efficient<\/li>\n\n\n\n
                    • Low land acquisition<\/li>\n\n\n\n
                    • Ideal for ageing population and tourists<\/li>\n\n\n\n
                    • Compatible with hybrid\/electric boats (which you already understand well)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n

                      The failure was institutional, not technical.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

                      Regards

                      Dr Sarath Obeysekera<\/p>\n\n\n\n

                      <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

                      Dr Sarath Obeysekera I  remember former Minister of Urban Development who frequently spoke to Advocata and other policy forums about modern urban transport concepts\u2014especially: He was Minister of Megapolis & Western Development (2015\u20132019) and  Previously Minister of Urban Development, Water Supply & Drainage Why my  canal transport proposal which was submitted from our shipyard failed  Because   […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[116],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-153892","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-dr-sarath-obeysekera"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/153892","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=153892"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/153892\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":153893,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/153892\/revisions\/153893"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=153892"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=153892"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=153892"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}