Malaysia willing to invest in construction of Colombo-Kandy Expressway

Thursday, 26 February 2015 01:00 - - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}

A group of Malaysian investors have expressed willingness to fund the construction of an expressway from the capital Colombo to Kandy, the hill capital of the Central Province. A discussion between the group and Minister of Plantation Industries Lakshman Kiriella was held in Colombo on Wednesday. The Minister has informed the Malaysian investors that the Government’s intention was to minimise as far as possible the securing of long-term loans and requested them to undertake the project as an investment, not as a loan. The Minister recalled that the project was initially mooted in 2002 by the then United National Party (UNP) Government and an agreement was signed with Malaysian investors. At the time it could have been completed at a cost of $ 100 million but now the cost had risen ten times to $ 1 billion, the Minister said. The Minister said that the project would be carried out under the Bill Operate and Transfer Scheme. The previous Government under President Mahinda Rajapaksa launched the project to construct the Colombo-Kandy Expressway as part of Northern Expressway construction in November with loan assistance from China. The current Government is exploring ways to reduce the debt burden due to the high-interest loans from China with alternate low-interest funding sources.

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