Developing strategies for cost sharing of utility works in right of way in Sri Lankan road projects

Abstract

Roads Authorities in Sri Lanka are obliged to pay all costs associated with relocation and betterment works required/requested by utility service providers through the funds allocated for their initiated projects. As a result, substantial portion from the allocated funds for road works are transferred to unforeseen utility related works. There is no sound legislation exists defining the powers, rights and obligations of Roads and Utility authorities. Moreover, Road Authority is experiencing huge delays in getting utility services relocated while implementing Road projects. Substantial amounts of extra claim have to be paid to the contractors for extension of time due to such delays, which is a real burden to the country, irrespective of whichever agency make the payment. In some instances, when the Contract of Utility services were awarded road works were nearing completion or even completed, which will cause damages to the newly constructed road or road structures or vice versa, causing unnecessary expenditure out of public funds. Since there were no documented cost sharing agreements in place between the Roads Authority and the local utility service providers, in response, this research is initiated for Developing Strategies for Cost Sharing of Utility Works in Right of Ways (ROW) between Roads Authorities and the respective Utility owners. The research works includes conducting a desktop study of international cost sharing practice. Qualitative research method was adapted through inductive process by selecting purposive samples of experts for semi structured in-depth interviews and more data were collected through documents review from sources both International and Sri Lanka. Finally, the data collected from multiple sources were analyzed by creating themes, coding and thereafter combining codes into categories and summarizing the findings. Therefore, this study will fulfill the knowledge gap in the sector to analyze the procedures and to identify the areas to develop to remedy for the issues prevail in Sri Lanka and formulate cost sharing strategies for utility relocation and the provision of new utility infrastructure between Roads Authority and the respective Utility owners.