Effectiveness of managing Environmental impacts of road construction in Sri Lanka. A case study of Peradeniya – Chenkaladi Road

Abstract

The non-adherence to the terms of Environmental Management Plan (EMP) has become a critical issue in environmental management with regard to road development projects in Sri Lanka. The objective of the study was to examine how far the recommended mitigation measures proposed in Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) were implemented with respect to road projects. Qualitative data was analyzed using inductive research approach. The study has found that EMP comprehensively included mitigation measures for each predicted environmental impact. The extent of implementation of mitigation measures was satisfactory except the measures for impacts of soil erosion and siltation. Other impacts were found to be effectively mitigated. Further it was found that community participation was poor in EMP implementation. Institutional participation was found to be at a low level. Research emphasizes the critical need of environmental monitoring in EIA process throughout project implementation in order to achieve required level of mitigation.