Press briefing of Cabinet Decision taken on 2017-09-12

Construction of Bridges in Rural Areas

- The Government has accorded high priority for connectivity improvement within the country with a view to providing the maximum benefits of the National Level Development Project Activities not only to the Urban but to the remote villages as well. Under this activity, it has been planned to construct around 3,500 to 4,000 bridges in rural areas and 02 projects pertaining to the construction of bridges are presently underway with the financial assistance of the United Kingdom and the Netherlands.

In the mean time, Governments of Hungaria and Belgium have come forward to provide financial assistance for the projects for constructing bridges in the rural areas. Accordingly, the proposal made by Hon. Ranil Wickremasinghe, the Prime Minister in his capacity as the Minister of National Policies and Economic Affairs, to authorize the Ministry of Provincial Councils and Local Government to call for proposals for the implementation of the 02 projects for the construction of bridges in rural areas with the financial assistance of the said Governments, was approved by the Cabinet.