ADB Country Director Sri Widowathi (left) and Treasury Secretary Dr. R. H. S. Samaratunga exchanging signed agreements at the Finance Ministry yesterday

The Sri Lankan government and the Asian Development Bank (ADB) yesterday signed the agreement to provide a US$ 115 million loan to uplift electricity supply in Sri Lanka’s rural regions, a Finance Ministry communiqué said.
The approval of the loan was announced this July, and the funding would specifically be used to develop power transmission to regions without stable electricity supplies.

The benefits would be mainly experienced by 35,710 consumers residing in the Northern islands and the North and Eastern Provinces that had not been developed during the civil war, as well those living in the Uva and Central provinces.
The entire project is expected to cost the government US$ 164 million, with the remainder of the funding to be attracted from domestic investors, the Finance Ministry said.
It further added that the project would culminate with electricity being available to 100 percent of Sri Lankan households.
The funds would be used to construct hybrid renewable energy mini grids, upgrade the medium voltage network, create 106 new village level electricity distribution plans, rollout over 2,372 kilometres of low-voltage line extensions and improve electricity transmission and electricity management feedback loop.