USD 441.42 mn funding: Indian team here to inspect projects

Sri Lanka has received USD 441.42 mn from Exim Bank of India to carry out four projects. Of them, two projects have been completed.  A three-member team from the Exim Bank of India visited Sri Lanka recently to review the progress of Polgahawela and Aluthgama Integrated water supply projects, being implemented under the Buyer’s Credit facilities under the National Export Insurance Account (BC-NEIA) Programme. The team, which included Shilpa Waghmare, General Manager; Mitali Pendharkar, Assistant General Manager and Ranjan Roy, Chief Manager, paid a courtesy call on the High Commissioner of India, Shri Gopal Baglay on December 9, 2021 and briefed him about the progress of the projects and their visit.

The following is the text of the statement issued by the Indian High Commission in Colombo: “Exim Bank of India has extended Buyer’s Credit of USD 441.42 million, to support 4 (four) projects in Sri Lanka, of which 2 (two) projects have already been completed. For the 2 (two) ongoing Integrated water supply projects at Polgahawela and Aluthgama, a support of USD 91.80 mn and USD 164.90 mn respectively, has been provided to the National Water Supply and Drainage Board, Sri Lanka (NWSDB). The project at Polgahawela is being executed by VA Tech Wabag Ltd and the project at Aluthgama by Ion Exchange (India) Ltd. Both the projects have achieved almost 90% physical progress.

“During the visit, the Exim team visited project sites at Aluthgama and Polgahawela to assess the progress of projects and interacted with the Contractors. The Exim Bank team held meetings with senior officials of Department of External Resources, Ministry of Finance of Sri Lanka and NWSDB in Colombo, to inter alia, review and discuss way forward for early completion of the 2 projects. They also discussed projects which could be taken up under the BC-NEIA Programme in the future.

“The water supply projects in Sri Lanka are community-centric priority projects. A project for supply, erection and commissioning of a water treatment plant and distribution to 9 reservoirs across Dambulla region has already been successfully executed by VA Tech Wabag Ltd under Buyer’s Credit.

“It may be noted that the BC-NEIA is a concessional loan facility extended by India Exim Bank to sovereign governments and their nominated government-owned entities (parastatal agencies) for execution of projects in certain sectors. Presently, 91 countries are in the positive list under the BC-NEIA Programme.”