World Bank funds for roads, housing and education
The Government and the World Bank signed yesterday three loan
agreements providing additional financing of US$98 million for the Road
Sector Assistance Project; US$43 million for the North East Housing
Reconstruction Program; and US$10 million for the Education Sector
Development Project, the World Bank said.
“This additional financing will strengthen the strategic objectives
of the newly formulated World Bank Country Assistance Strategy (CAS) for
Sri Lanka, to support growth through infrastructure, assisting lagging
regions, and strengthening service delivery” said World Bank Country
Director for Sri Lanka Naoko Ishii.
“We are indeed happy to support Sri Lanka’s development framework
with rehabilitating and maintaining the road network; assisting the
return to normality in the North and East with housing for the conflict
affected; and providing opportunities to improve educational outcomes of
children living in poor regions,” she said.
The Road sector Assistance Project, has demonstrated quick
implementation results since its commencement in 2006 with a credit of
US$ 100 million, and a total of 602 km of national and rural roads will
be completed by 2011.
“The approach has been to provide a quick overlay of the selected
priority roads without any acquisition of land with substantial
improvements to drainage,” said World Bank Infrastructure Specialist and
Team Leader Amali Rajapaksa said.
Reconstructing lives and livelihoods through the North East Housing
Reconstruction Programme (NEHRP), commenced with a credit of US$ 83
million and 85 percent of this credit has been disbursed. By June this
year, 22,444 houses were rebuilt out of the targeted caseload of 34,784
houses. Work on 5,597 houses is yet to start in conflict affected areas.
This US$ 43 million NEHRP Additional Financing would help rebuild 13,615
more houses.
The Education Sector Development Project commenced in 2006 with a
grant of US$ 60 million to promote equitable access to education.
The additional US$10 million will focus on improving the education
performance of lagging regions and to promote social cohesion between
different communities and social groups.
The resources will support the development of the capital stock of
schools. |
