World Bank provides US$ 108 for three sectors
The World Bank yesterday approved three projects totalling US$108
million for Sri Lanka. These consist US$50 million for the North East
Local Service Improvement Project, US$40 million for the Higher
Education for the 21st Century Project; and US$18 million for the
Sustainable Tourism Project.
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Naoko Ishii |
“It is one year, almost to the day, since Sri Lanka’s nearly three
decades long armed conflict ended,” World Bank Country Director for Sri
Lanka Naoko Ishii said. “Sri Lanka is now in transition from a
low-income country in conflict to middle-income country in peace.
In many ways, these three projects aim at helping the country achieve
this historic transformation - by bringing infrastructure services to
the North and East, by leveraging untapped tourism assets in the East,
and by helping create a well educated and competitive workforce.”
According to estimates, a mere 10-15 percent of road surfaces are intact
in the North and East and less than half of the population in these two
provinces has access to safe drinking water.
The North East Local Services Improvement Project is designed to
augment resource transfers and building capacity of local authorities,
the bottom tier in the Government structure, so that they are well
equipped to deliver much needed local services to the citizens in an
accountable manner.
“This project will support repairing and rebuilding critical
infrastructure - from rural roads, culverts and bridges to public
buildings, waste disposal, and rural water supply,” World Bank Senior
Rural Development Specialist and project team leader Seenithamby
Manoharan said. “Importantly, all infrastructure projects will be
identified and prioritized by the citizens themselves.”
The higher education sector currently faces a number of urgent
challenges. Foremost among them is the inability of a large number of
graduates to secure employment in the private sector due to a lack of
soft skills, insufficient competency in the English language, and
inadequate Information Technology skills.
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