The Cabinet of Ministers approved the award of the contract to construct the 9.32 kilometer segment of the OCH to the Metallurgical Corporation of China Ltd. (MCC) at a cost of Rs. 66.69 billion in 2013.

The Cabinet of Ministers considering the high cost of the project and the recommendations made by professionals, has decided to change the scope of work with a reduction of cost by 35.9 percent or Rs. 23.93 billion.

In May this year an official committee reviewing the former Government's highway projects including the Phase III of OCH has found several of them to be highly inflated in price, but recommended to continue the projects on a smaller scale.

Accordingly, it was decided to construct the expressway section with four lanes, reduce the length of viaducts and reduce the height of viaducts to minimize the cost.

However, as the contractor disagreed on the amendments the construction of the expressway section has been delayed.

A report on possible changes of scope of works without compromising safety aspects have been obtained from the Construction Supervision Consultant and accordingly two major changes have been proposed.

The government has proposed to remove the interchange proposed to be constructed in Peliyagoda - Puttalam road as an interchange is constructed in Kerawalapitiya and construct the Phase III section also with four lanes as phase I and II of the expressway are constructed with four lanes.

The proposal made by University Education and Highways Minister Lakshman Kiriella to implement the project with the changes will save 14.84 percent or Rs. 9.9 billion. The Cabinet has given approval to the Minister's proposal.