A brand new bridge maintenance vehicle from Japan was gifted by JICA (Japan International Cooperation Agency) to the Road Development Authority (RDA) of Sri Lanka recently. The keys of the vehicle were handed over by Chief Representative of the JICA Sri Lanka Office, Fusato Tanaka to Minister of Higher Education & Highways, Lakshman Kiriella.
The vehicle has a working platform which could be extended from the truck to reach under the bridge deck, so that the critical but hard to reach locations could be inspected and rectified in time. The vehicle worth over Japanese Yen 47 m (approx. Rs.86 m) will be the first of its kind in Sri Lanka.
The vehicle is provided as part of the technical cooperation project on Bridge Management implemented by JICA to assist the RDA to formulate and establish systematic processes to regularly inspect and maintain bridges on the national road network.
The 3 year technical cooperation project aims to assist RDA to formulate a bridge maintenance policy, set up maintenance organization in RDA, prepare working manual for maintenance work, establish IT based Bridge Management System and on-the-job training in Japan for RDA engineers to get hands-on experience and technology transfer.
The new bridge maintenance vehicle will enable close inspection and rectification of bridges.