Social impacts due to landscape disruption caused by the central expressway: with reference to Kadawatha - Mirigama section

Abstract

The construction of expressways in Sri Lanka has been a critical force in the country’s development. However, most of the expressway projects will cause large-scale landscape disruptions to the natural landscape fabric. Somehow gaps in the analytical stages before the construction cause mass disruptions to the living landscapes. The study was conducted based on the ongoing central expressway to investigate the social impacts caused by the landscape disruption of the project. Under the project title, an environmental impact assessment was conducted, but the social impact assessment was not discussed responsibly. This quantitative and qualitative research was based on the selected case study locations with the highest social disturbance. The study was structured by the parameters found from the field expert’s structured interviews. Data was collected through field surveys, GIS data analysis, and satellite imagery analysis. The study will analyse the social fabric of the study areas before and after the project as a comparative study. Used parameters mentioned in the methodology can be used as a framework to analyse the social impact assessment criteria in a relevant context. The contribution of this study will be beneficial in future construction projects in Sri Lanka, to mitigate the social consequences caused by large-scale landscape disruptions.