COLOMBO : Sri Lankan Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa held talks on Wednesday, December 30, with the CEO of the Saudi Fund for Development (SFD) Sultan Abdulrahman Al-Murshed, who pledged to provide continuous support to implement development projects in Sri Lanka.
Premier Rajapaksa expressed his gratitude to the SFD as well as the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia for the support extended to Sri Lanka for development projects as well as the continued close collaboration and friendship between the two governments.
The very first project initiated with support from SFD was a water and sewage project in 1981. Since then, during the past four decades, SFD has supported a number of different development projects around the country, the Prime Minister’s Office said in a statement. From the time of its inception, the Saudi Fund For Development has given $ 425 million as soft loans to Lanka for its development of infrastructure projects in water, energy, education, roadways, bridges.
During this visit to Sri Lanka, the SFD delegation participated in two project openings. The ground-breaking ceremony of the Wayamba University Township Development Project in Kuliyapitiya took place with the virtual participation of the Prime Minister. The second was the inaugural ceremony of the Bibile-Chenkaladi Road section at Chenkaladi.
In discussing future priorities, PM Rajapaksa has requested SFD to consider projects on minor irrigation, rural water supply and further road development, particularly in rural areas.(AD)
