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| Sunday, 20 March 2005 |
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Government allocates Rs17,748 million for infrastructure by Gamini Warushamana The government has allocated Rs. 17,748 million from the 2005 budget for 12 large scale infrastructure development projects. The total estimated cost of these projects is Rs. 183,762million. The projects include harbour development, water supply, highways, construction of bridges, power and energy, rail extension and telecommunication projects. Although some of these projects were launched several years ago work is still progressing. The cumulative cost incurred by the projects up to December 2005 is Rs. 34,145.19 million or 18.58% of the total estimate. With this year's expenditure, by the end of 2005, the total cumulative cost incurred by these projects would be 28.23% of the total cost, Finance Ministry sources said. The Ministry of Ports and Aviation was allocated Rs. 332 million in the 2005 Budget for the Colombo Southern harbour development project. The project had completed 90% of its planning. The Kaluganga water supply project started by the Ministry of Urban Development and Water Supply has completed 44% of its work. The total cost of the project is Rs. 8,600 million and Rs. 1,970 million was allocated from this year's budget. The rural water supply and sanitation project has completed 84% of the work including 400 rural and 16 small town water supply schemes as well as 75,000 toilets. The budgetary allocation for the project in 2005 is Rs. 2,310 million. Government provided Rs. 3,216 million from this year's budget for the road network improvement project of the Ministry of Highways. The Ministry has informed the treasury that only one package (one package is 15 Kms) out of 17 packages of the ADB funded section of the project has been completed. The work of the other section of the project, which is funded by the JBIC, is in progress. Work on the Southern expressway is at a standstill. According to the report only 30% of civil works of the ADB funded section have been completed up to now and the contract for the JBIC section has not yet been awarded. However, the Ministry has allocated Rs. 5,893 million for the project this year. The Ministry has also spent Rs. 420 million on the bridges construction project. The project aimed to construct 37 bridges of which 24 have been completed. The total cost of the project is Rs. 1690 million. The Colombo-Katunayake expressway is another project that has been lagging for several years. The report says that only 35% of the civil work has been completed and the government is seeking private investors to implement the project as a public-private partnership. In the energy sector the Ministry of Power and Energy allocated Rs.783 million for the continuation of a medium voltage electricity distribution project. Up to now 17 lines of 231.5kms have been fully completed and three lines of 77.5km have been partly completed. The minor irrigation rehabilitation project funded by the Asian Development Bank has completed its first stage and expects to rehabilitate 2,040 minor irrigation tanks under Stage Two. For 2005 the government has allocated Rs. 765 million for the project. |
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