Sri Lanka receives US$ 150 million for second Integrated Road Investment Programme
The Asian Development Bank (ADB) and the government of Sri Lanka have reportedly signed a US$ 150 million Tranche 2 Loan Agreement for the Second Integrated Road Investment Programme.
The loan will help continue the ADB’s assistance to upgrade Sri Lanka’s rural road network and connect vast rural populations to jobs and services.
Secretary to Sri Lanka’s Treasury and Ministry of Finance Dr. R.H.S. Samaratunga had signed the loan agreement for the government of Sri Lanka and ADB Sri Lanka Resident Mission Officer-in-Charge Manjula Amerasinghe had signed on behalf of ADB.
A project agreement was also signed between the ADB and Nihal Sooriyarachchi, Chairman of Sri Lanka’s Road Development Authority (RDA), which is the project’s implementing agency.
Under the Second Integrated Road Investment Programme, which was approved by the ADB’s Board of Directors on 29 September 2017, about 3,400 km of rural access roads and 340 km of national roads in the Eastern, Northern, and Uva Provinces as well as part of the Western Province are to be rehabilitated and improved.
The programme is to also improve the capacity of the country’s road agencies for road safety, maintenance, research, design, and construction.
According to reports, the programme, which is due for completion in 2027, will deliver finance in five tranches to 2021 and this is the second of such tranches.
The Sri Lankan government is to meet US$ 21.80 million of the second tranche programme cost.
The ADB is committed to achieving a prosperous, inclusive, resilient, and sustainable Asia and the Pacific, while sustaining its efforts to eradicate extreme poverty.
OSL take:
The aggressive development programme that covers all key economic sectors islandwide undertaken by the government of Sri Lanka has created many business/investment opportunities in the country. Infrastructure development projects have been given much prominence while multilateral donor agencies have come forward to provide funding for these programmes. Foreign businesses could therefore explore business opportunities in Sri Lanka’s development programme.
| Article Code : | VBS/AT/20191118/Z_5 |