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New highways: Govt. won’t seek foreign loans
View(s):By Damith Wickremasekara
The Government has decided not to obtain foreign loans for mega road construction projects, Highways Minister Lakshman Kiriella said. He said that instead, the Government would rely on Private Public Partnership (PPP), Build-Operate- Transfer (BOT) or Build-Own-Operate-Transfer (BOOT) systems to finance the major road projects, including expressways.
Mr. Kiriella told the Sunday Times the decision was taken on the advice of Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe in view of the huge foreign loans already obtained by the Government and issues of repaying them.
The minister said that accordingly the decision to obtain loans from Exim Bank of China for the Central Expressway’s 58.7 km section between Kurunegala and Dambulla and the Ruwanapura project for the expressway from Kahathuduwa to Pelmadulla had been reversed.
The Kurunegala-Dambulla expressway project is estimated to cost to cost Rs. 161 billion while the Ruwanapura project with four stages would cost Rs. 274 billion. The minister said the decision would not affect the two Chinese firms which were selected for the Kurunegala-Dambulla project and the first phase of the Ruwanpura project.