The Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA), one of Sri Lanka’s oldest development partners, has suspended funding for a new transmission line until the clarification of several policy matters such as the financial policies of the Sri Lanka Government and its debt situation including the request for a debt moratorium from Japan.
The JICA decision has been notified to the Ministry of Finance, The Sunday Times newspaper reported.
Earlier this year, President Gotabaya Rajapaksa’s administration requested JICA funding for a 220 kilovolt underground cable from Kerawalapitiya to the Colombo Port. While the Government usually sends a list of proposed projects at the beginning of a cycle, this time it only proposed this transmission line to JICA.
However, the Sri Lanka Government also asked Japan for a moratorium on its debt and said that it could not proceed with the JICA-funded light rail project for the next five years — despite the loan agreement having already been signed after months of negotiation — because the government did not have borrowing space.
Read the Full report in Sunday Times 👇
http://www.sundaytimes.lk/200614/news/jica-suspends-funding-for-cable-project-406001.html