According to the Ministry, the objective of this project is to ease traffic congestion around the Peliyagoda area and Baseline Road thereby contributing to the improvement of transportation network in Colombo city and promoting economic development and the environmental and feasibility studies of the project have already been completed. Now it has entered the detailed designing and the resettlement process.

The project is intended to augment and increase the capacity of the existing new Kelani bridge by building an additional bridge with six lanes parallel to the existing bridge with elevated access road on the Kelani River and interchanges to connect with the Colombo-Katunayake Expressway (CKE), Colombo Port and Baseline Road.

It will also facilitate a smooth traffic flow along Baseline road and New Kelani bridge road towards the Colombo port access road.

The proposed new bridge will be built alongside the existing Kelani Bridge at Peliyagoda, but it will have a slightly higher elevation.

The Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) will provide financial assistance to carry out the feasibility, detail design studies and subsequently the construction of the new bridge and associated access roads.

The traffic flow at the Kelani Bridge and Peliyagoda area had increased with the opening of the Colombo-Katunayake Expressway and the Outer Colombo Circular Road. A new bridge parallel to the existing bridge over the Kelani river to be constructed would overcome the increasing traffic jams in these areas.

The project will increase the transport efficiency around the existing new Kelani Bridge and to establish a link between CKE and the city transport network.