Press briefing of Cabinet Decision taken on 2017-08-01

Acquisition of lands for the Light Rail Transit Project (LRT) and payment of compensation for the affected parties

- A project for the construction of a Light Rail Transit System (LRT) has been planned to be implemented to reform the public transportation system, mitigating the traffic congestion in the Colombo Metropolitan Area and the feasibility studies on the construction of the first two Light Rail Transit routes under this project are being carried out. In order to implement the project expeditiously, it is necessary to commence the acquisition of the required lands for the purpose as soon as such lands are identified by the said feasibility study.

Accordingly, with the objective of acquiring the required lands without any delay by providing a more reasonable compensation to the parties affected by the project, the proposal made by Hon. Patali Champika Ranawaka, the Minister of Megapolis and Western Development, to adopt the methodology of the Land Acquisition and Resettlement Committees (LARC) and Land Acquisition and Resettlement Special Committees (Super LARC) for the purpose, was approved by the Cabinet.