No French money for water supply project, Govt. to borrow Rs. 10 b from local bank

Finance Minister Ravi Karunanayake was given approval to issue a Treasury guarantee for Rs. 10 billion from a domestic bank for the second phase of the Kelani Right Bank Water Supply Project. 

Cabinet has already approved the project, which includes the construction of a new water treatment plant with a capacity of 180,000 cubic meters to improve the capacity of the Kelani Right Bank Water Treatment Plant, construction of main pipelines to distribute refined water, construction of a 25 km-long water supply path, construction of the Vii Oya reservoir and the supply and installation of rubber balloons as a sea water cover, the Cabinet paper said. 

However, in February, Cabinet also gave permission for Finance Minister Ravi Karunanayake to enter into an agreement with Credit Agricole Corporate and the Investment Bank of France to obtain financial assistance for the same project.