23 November 2017 12:00 am
The Finance and Mass Media Ministry yesterday entered into two loan agreements with the Asian Development Bank (ADB) to borrow US $ 150 million for the development of 3400 kilometres (km) of rural roadways and US $ 200 million for the implementation of a 100 megawatt (MW) wind power generation project.
The 3,400 km of rural access roads, inclusive of 340 km of national highways, will be upgraded under the agreement signed through the Second Integrated Road Investment Programme.
The significance of this programme is that these roads will be developed to suit all weather conditions.
Improving the capacity of road agencies with respect to safeguards, road safety, maintenance, research capacity and road design and construction is another component of
the programme.
The programme will be implemented in the Northern, Eastern, Uva and Western Provinces.
Under the first phase of this programme, 3,108 km of rural access roads and 248 km of national roads in the Southern, Central, Sabaragamuwa, North Western, North Central Provinces and Kalutara District in the Western Province are being improved and maintained.
The total investment cost of the first tranche of this project is US $ 172.1 million. ADB provides US $ 150 million and the government’s contribution will be US $ 22.1 million.
Meanwhile, the proposed 100 MW wind farm will be constructed in Mannar Island of the Northern Province.
In addition, wind park infrastructure will be developed, including the wind park’s internal medium voltage infrastructure, internal cabling and access roads, establishment of a renewable energy dispatch control centre for forecasting and controlling and managing intermittent 100 MW wind power generation.
The total investment cost of this project is US $ 256.7 million, of which, US $ 200 million will be provided by ADB as a direct loan to the Ceylon Electricity Board (CEB) under a Treasury guarantee. The balance US $ 56.7 million will be financed by the CEB.