Sri Lanka signs agreement with China to construct Phase One of Central Expressway

The Finance Ministry today (Mar 22) signed an agreement with the Chinese government to obtain a USD 1 billion (Rs 178 billion) loan for the construction of the first phase of the Central Expressway project.

Finance Secretary Dr. R.H.S. Samaratunga signed the agreement on behalf of the Sri Lankan government with Chinese Ambassador to Sri Lanka Cheng Xueyuan who represented the Chinese Exim Bank.

The first phase of the project would see four expressways namely the Outer Circular Highway (OCH) II, OCH III and Colombo-Katunayake Expressway and the Central Expressway being linked through the Kadawatha interchange, the Finance Ministry said in a press release.

This also means that that an uninterrupted road which connects Hambatota to Katunayake or Hambantota to Kandy, would be constructed using this loan.

The concessionary loan has been provided by the Chinese Exim Bank covering 85% of the contract price. The expenditure for the total construction of the expressway will be US$ 1,164 million.

Meanwhile, the second section of the Central Expressway is being constructed with loans obtained from local commercial banks, the Finance Ministry noted.