Press briefing of Cabinet Decision taken on 2018-07-10

Implementation of the Light Rail Transit Project

- The introduction of a Light Rail Transit System for the establishment of an effective and productive transport service within the Colombo Megapolis area is one of the major components in the Western Region Megapolis Master Plan. Under this, it has been planned to construct 07 Light Railway Transit Lines and out of them, the line which links Colombo Fort area with other major cities and the line extended to the area of Battaramulla and Malabe have been identified as priority roads.

Due to the high congestion in these areas, the Government of Sri Lanka has requested financial assistance from Japan to construct these lines as two elevated Light Railway Transit Lines. As such, the proposal made by Hon. Patali Champika Ranawaka, the Minister of Megapolis and Western Development, to implement a Light Rail Transit Project with 16 stations and a Depot 17km in length, from Malabe to the Multi Model Transport Hub (MMTH) in Colombo Fort, was approved by the Cabinet.