$800 mln facility to help Sri Lanka tackle poor rural road links
View(s):MANILA – The Asian Development Bank (ADB) last week approved an $800 million loan facility to fund rural and national road upgrades in six provinces in Sri Lanka, that will significantly improve access of remote communities to markets, services, and jobs.
“Providing all-weather road access to towns and villages in rural areas will bring greater development and prosperity that will underpin stronger economic growth in Sri Lanka in coming years and decades,” said Chen Chen, Senior Transport Specialist in ADB’s South Asia Department, in a statement to the media.
The Integrated Road Investment Programme, or so-called “iRoad” in Sri Lanka, will upgrade about 2,200 kilometres of rural access roads, and rehabilitate and maintain about 400 km of national roads under five projects in the Southern Province, Sabaragamuwa Province and the Kalutara District of Western Province, Central Province, North Central Province and the North Western province.
It will also provide training and support to help national, provincial, and local agencies manage the road network more effectively. The project is expected to be finished by mid-2024.
Sri Lanka has over 132,000 km of roads and has made strong headway in expanding and improving trunk routes since 2007. However progress on provincial and rural access roads has been slower and many are in poor condition.
The Sri Lanka government’s national strategy for 2010-2020 said poor quality infrastructure is a key constraint to its goal of rapid economic growth and lower poverty, and has estimated the cost of upgrading rural access routes at $1.8 billion. As well as ADB, the government has also asked the Japan International Cooperation Agency to finance road projects in other areas.