The 91km-long Extension of Southern Expressway Project from Matara to Hambantota consists of four main sections with four-lane two-way and the designed speed of 120 km/h .  Financed by the Export-import Bank of China, the 26km-long Section (Beliatta to Wetiya) with a contract value of 424 million dollars and the 15km-long Section III  (Wetiya to Andarawewa) with a contract value of 252 million dollars are undertaken by were undertaken by CSCEC and was officially opened to traffic on February 24, 2020.

As a key project of the 21st Century Marine Silk Road and a traffic artery of the western and southern regions of Sri Lanka, the project effectively improves connectivity among cities and promot tourism development. It substantially reduces the time for cargo  and passenger transport between two major ports of Colombo and Hambantota, and lays the foundation for the subsequent construction of the Hambantota Port Industrial Park, helping build Sri Lanka into the "economic center of South Asia".