India will provide $425 million as assistance to Sri Lanka to undertake railway projects in its war ravaged Northern region and help speedy reconstruction and rehabilitation efforts there.
"Indian government has conveyed to the government of Sri Lanka its decision to extend a Line of Credit of $425 million to Sri Lanka for three projects," an Indian High Commission release said here.
This includes assistance for laying of railway line by the Indian Railway Construction Company (IRCON). The assistance is for Track laying by IRCON International. On the Omanthai-Pallai sector of the Northern railway line; IRCON is involved in construction of Railway Projects in India and abroad.
Besides, the line of credit would also cover track laying by IRCON (I) Ltd. On the Madhu-Tallaimannar sector; and supply of rolling stock by Rail India Technical and Economic Services (RITES ) for Northern Sri Lanka.
The state owned RITES is multi-disciplinary consultancy organisation in the fields of transport, infrastructure and related technologies.
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The decision to extend the line of credit is part of India's continued commitment to reconstruction and rehabilitation efforts in northern Sri Lanka, the release said. The Indian High Commission release said this reflects the close and cordial bilateral relations shared by the two countries.
Last month, Indian government conveyed its decision to the government of Sri Lanka to offer a supplementary line of credit of $67.4 million for the rehabilitation of the Southern Colombo-Matara Railway Line.
The line of credit for the Colombo-Matara Railway line had been requested by the government of Sri Lanka to finance the second phase of work related to rehabilitation of the southern railway line.
India had earlier provided a line of credit of $100 million to finance the first phase of rehabilitation work on the Southern Railway Line.
Two Indian companies – RITES and IRCON – had signed contracts in this regard in 2008 and work on implementing the first phase of this project is underway.
The total rehabilitation package includes supply of 20 Diesel Multiple Unit (DMU) sets (each set consists of engine and rail bogies) and reconstruction of the railway line from Colombo to Matara.
It also involves construction of maintenance sheds for the DMUs and training of Sri Lankan engineers in India in handling and maintenance of the new units.