Ircon completes five years in Lanka

Ircon International Limited, a Government of India undertaking, under the Ministry of Indian Railways, has completed five years in Sri Lanka. The company was responsible for laying the Northern railway tracks which enabled the people in the North to resume travel by rail after 30 years.

Project Director Shyam Lal Gupta, said that Ircon International Limited launched its Sri Lanka charter with the mandate to upgrade the Kalutara-Galle-Matara coastal railway line in March 2009.

"The coastal railway line was devastated during the tsunami in December 2004. The project involved the rehabilitation and improvement of tracks to a modern railway track with a speed potential of 100 kmph.

This 114 km-long project was funded through an Indian line of credit and was completed ahead of schedule in two phases. Phase-I, Galle-Matara (42 km) was completed and handed over to Sri Lanka Railways in February 2011, while Phase-II, Galle-Kalutara (72 km) was put to commercial operations in April 2012".

The government of Sri Lanka requested Ircon to submit a proposal for reconstructing the Northern Railway Lines and when subsequent to the end of the war, when the President of Sri Lanka visited India in June 2010, the Government of India announced that they would extend a very concessional line of credit of US $ 800 million for the restoration of the railway lines and the installation of the signalling and telecommunication system in the Northern Province.

The line of credit is a soft loan on low interest rates. There is 20 year repayment period with a five year moratorium.