Concessional loan of USD 989Mn from China’s EXIM Bank for Central Expressway

Mar 22, 2019 (LBO) - The Export- Import Bank of China (EXIM Bank) has agreed to provide a concessional loan amounting to US 989 million dollars covering 85 percent of the contract price, for the Central Expressway Project - Section 1 from Kadawatha to Meerigama. The loan is the single largest loan approved by the EXIM Bank for Sri Lanka. The total estimated cost of the project is US 1,164 million dollars. To complement the existing expressway network, Central Expressway Project (CEP) has been initiated with a purpose of linking Colombo with Kandy and Kurunagala. Section 1 of the CEP will start from Kadawatha where four expressways, namely Outer Circular Highway (OCH) II, OCH III and Colombo-Katunayaka Expressway and the Central Expressway link through the Kadawatha interchange creating an uninterrupted connectivity from Hambanthota to Katunayaka or Hambanthota to Kandy linking several provinces and economically important ports, airports and commercial cities. This proposed highway will improve the inter regional connectivity and efficiency of the entire expressway network.