US$ 30.1m Korean loan for ICT Hub for Secondary Education
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From Left: Mr. Daekyoo Park (Country Director of Colombo Representative office of Korea Eximbank), Dr. R.H.S. Samaratunga (Secretary to the Ministry of Finance)
The Export-Import Bank of Korea (Korea Eximbank) has signed an Agreement with the Government to provide a concessional loan for the “Establishment of ICT Hub for Secondary Education” Project.
The signing took place at the Ministry of Finance (MoF) on Tuesday with the participation of MoF Secretary Dr. R.H.S. Samaratunga, Ministry of Education (MoE) Secretary M.N. Ranasinghe, and Korea Eximbank Colombo Representative Office Country Director Daekyoo Park.
Through this Loan agreement, Korea Eximbank has committed the Economic Development Cooperation Fund (EDCF) concessional loan of US$ 30.1 million, with an interest rate of 0.15% and a 40-years repayment period, including a 10-years grace period.
The project covers an islandwide plan, targeting National, Provincial and Zonal level ICT Education. National Content Development Centre (NCDC) and 2 Provincial ICT Education Centres (PICTECs) in Eastern and Southern Provinces will be newly built under the project. In addition, to make the ICT hub more sustainable, capacity building programmes for government officials and consultation on content development and e-Learning will be provided.
The Korean embassy, in a press release, said “The urban population of Sri Lanka records a Computer Literacy level of 39.2%, while Computer Literacy in rural areas and estates are at a considerably lower 25.5% and 9% respectively.”
“This phenomenon has become a hindrance to realizing Sri Lanka’s development priority of moving towards a digital economy. In this context, when completed, this project will provide not only a strong foundation to realize a digital economy and a knowledge-based society, but also, ICT savvy labour force for the labour market to boost Sri Lanka’s economy.”
“The Korea Eximbank provides Official Development Assistance (ODA) loans through EDCF, for international development and cooperation. The Bank provided its first ODA loan for the rehabilitation of the Colombo-Galle Road (A2) in 1990. As of now, Korea Eximbank entrusted by the Korean government with the EDCF, has approved US$ 891 million for 31 development projects in Sri Lanka,” the release said.