Press briefing of Cabinet Decision taken on 2018-05-09

Construction of the Old Kelaniya Railway Bridge

The Government has identified the need for developing the railway infrastructure facilities in keeping with the increasing number of passengers traveling by train and the need for increasing the speed of the trains. As such, the Government has launched a project to reconstruct the Old Kelaniya Railway Bridge, constructed in the year 1881, to suit the present trends. It has been estimated that Euro 9 million will have to be incurred for the project. The UniCredit Bank of Austria AG has expressed its willingness to grant an interest free loan to cover the entire cost of the 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 conduct loan negotiations with the UniCredit Bank of Austria AG to obtain the said credit facility and to enter into the relevant loan agreements, was approved by the Cabinet.