SL gets US$150mn ADB loan to upgrade rural roads

From left: ADB Sri Lanka Resident Mission Officer-in-Charge Manjula Amerasinghe, Finance Ministry Treasury Secretary R.H.S. Samaratunga and Road Development Authority Chairman Nihal Sooriyarachchi

The Asian Development Bank (ADB) and the Government of Sri Lanka (GOSL) yesterday signed a US$150 million tranche two loan agreement for the Second Integrated Road Investment Programme to continue ADB’s assistance to upgrade the country’s rural road network. 

Finance Ministry Treasury Secretary R.H.S. Samaratunga signed the loan agreement for the GOSL and ADB Sri Lanka Resident Mission Officer-in-Charge Manjula Amerasinghe signed on behalf of ADB.

A project agreement was also signed between ADB and Road Development Authority Chairman Nihal Sooriyarachchi, the project’s implementing agency.

Under the Second Integrated Road Investment Programme, which was approved by ADB’s Board of Directors on September 29, 2017, about 3,400 kilometres (km) of rural access roads and 340 km of national roads in the Eastern, Northern, and Uva provinces, as well as a part of the Western province will be rehabilitated/improved.

The programme will also improve the capacity of the country’s road agencies for road safety, maintenance, research, design, and construction. The programme, which is due for completion in 2027, will deliver finance in five tranches to 2021. This is the second of such tranches.

The government will meet US$21.80 million of the second tranche programme cost.