Sri Lanka made road contractors sell maintained roads, not repairs

Sri Lanka's National Highways Sector Project could have stopped at civil works: upgrade roads, replace bridges and leave maintenance to the old bureaucracy. That would solve the visible backlog while preserving the operating habit that created it.

ADB's validation describes a more durable move. Alongside about 270 km of national highway upgrades, the project developed and hired local private contractors for a pilot performance-based maintenance program across four to six engineer divisions.

That pilot changed what the road agency was buying. Instead of specifying each maintenance input after deterioration appeared, it began testing a local market for delivered road condition. ADB's independent validation rated the project Successful.

Procure road condition, not road work

The pilot built contractor capacity locally, so the model was not dependent on a foreign operator.

Performance maintenance made upkeep part of the asset design rather than an afterthought.

Testing in a few engineer divisions reduced institutional risk while exposing agency staff to the new contract logic.

A maintenance market changes when contractors are paid for the asset staying usable, not for the quantity of work ordered after it fails.

The ADB validation highlighted both the physical works and the policy work around the Road Development Authority, including reorganization and human-resource reforms. The transferable move is to bundle infrastructure improvement with a new maintenance contract, so the institution learns how to preserve the asset while it is still politically visible.