Press briefing of Cabinet Decision taken on 2018-02-20

Construction of Rural Bridges

- The Government has planned to construct 4,000 bridges with the objective of increasing access to markets, education and health facilities through the building of transport connectivity for the people living in the far away remote villages. It has been identified that the Direct Lending Facility of the United Kingdom is a favourable source of loan to secure funds for this project.

Accordingly, the proposal made by Hon. Ranil Wickremasinghe, the Prime Minister in his capacity as the Minister of National Policies and Economic Affairs, to vest authority with the Ministry of Provincial Councils and Local Government to call for proposals from the construction institutions of the United Kingdom for the implementation of a Rural Bridge Project at a cost of Pounds (UK) 50 million and to vest authority with the relevant Technical Evaluation Committee and the Procurement Committee to evaluate the bids and the proposals submitted thereby and make recommendations, was approved by the Cabinet.