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Massive US grant to develop Colombo’s road network
View(s):The United States government’s Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC) has approved a US$ 480 million grant to Sri Lanka at its board meeting on Thursday in Washington D.C., subject to Congressional notification, the Finance Ministry has announced.
On Friday, Finance Minister Mangala Samaraweera said the grant would be used for the development of the metropolitan road network that connects five provinces to Colombo markets and to improve land evaluation mechanisms across the country.
The MCC has evaluated Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe’s request and decided that Sri Lanka is qualified to receive grant funding under its Compact Investment Programme.
Under this grant, Sri Lanka is getting US$ 480 million for three main projects to be completed within five years; a special Transport Development Programme covering the Colombo metropolitan area to reduce the traffic congestion by improving flow rate, reduce travel time, traffic emission and accidents. This project is to be implemented in combination with the Bus Transport Service Modernisation programme including private and public sector transport services.