Asphalt washed off new road due to heavy rains

COLOMBO (News1st): The asphalt used to surface the 17-kilometre road linking Pitigala and Mapalagama has come off just after a day of heavy rains. "Without removing the old layer of asphalt, they laid the new asphalt on top of that. No drains were constructed and the water cannot recede. The entire road was washed away," one resident said. Asphalt was laid on this road less than a month ago. Villagers say that repeated requests to construct the road to proper standards have fallen to deaf ears "They spent 20 million rupees to construct this road that is not even 1 inch thick just before this wave of the COVID-19 pandemic struck," a villager noted. "This is a crime".