Kuwait Fund extends $ 36 m for construction, rehabilitation of 25 bridges

Friday, 31 January 2014 01:08 - - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}

The Kuwait Fund (KFAED) has agreed to provide $ 36 million (Kuwait Dinar 10 million) for construction and rehabilitation of 25 narrow bridges including nine bridges in the Western Province, three bridges in the Southern Province, five bridges in the North Western Province, four bridges in the Sabaragamuwa Province, three bridges in the Northern Province and a bridge in the Eastern Province.

Implementing of this project will help to mitigate traffic congestion in high traffic corridors and traffic accidents while improving the connectivity of the road network. The loan agreement for $ 36 million (Kuwait Dinar 10 million) for reconstruction and rehabilitation of 25 bridges of the National Road Network was signed yesterday at the Ministry of Finance and Planning by Dr. P.B. Jayasundera, Secretary of Ministry of Finance and Planning on behalf of the Government of Sri Lanka and Hesham Al-Waqayan, Deputy Director General of Kuwait Fund for Arab Economic Development. The proposed project will complement the program for construction of 1000 rural bridges island wide. The Kuwait Fund for Arab Economic Development has extended $ 196 Million since 1975 with concessional terms and conditions for the development of Sri Lanka. They have funded diversified areas such as education, irrigation and the road development sectors. The Kalu Ganga Development Project, South Eastern University Development Project, Bridge Rehabilitation and Reconstruction Project and strengthening of tertiary education and administrative infrastructure in tsunami affected areas are the significant projects which are currently being implemented with KFAED assistance. The Finance Ministry said the Development Policy Framework of the Government has identified the necessity of rehabilitation and improvement of national road network of the country on a priority basis to improve the efficiency of transport services. Accordingly, the Government has assigned high priority for widening and improvement of the narrow bridges which are very old and have reached their maximum serviceable life. Deterioration caused over time by heavy traffic and an adverse environment conditions have resulted in a higher frequency of repairs to old bridges and reduced the carrying capacity. In this context, it is required to construct and rehabilitate narrow bridges of the national road network by increasing its connectivity covering the entire island and expanding opportunities of people’s access suitable for current requirement.