NEIAP to receive $64m World Bank funding

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 23 June 2004, 13:01 GMT]
North-East Irrigated Agriculture Project (NEIAP) is to get an additional $64.7m credit from the Worldbank for rehabilitation work and to bring normalcy to conflict affected communities of North East Sri Lanka, a report released by World bank said.

“To sustain the peace process, it is vital that the people of the North East should be assisted to rebuild their social networks and livelihoods. The first project supported this objective even as the conflict was raging, and this follow-on expanded operation will deepen the process,” says Peter Harrold, World Bank Country Director for Sri Lanka. “We sincerely hope that a successful implementation of this project will contribute significantly to assist Sri Lanka to move towards a permanent peace,” he added.

The report quoted Nihal Fernando, a Senior Irrigation Engineer saying, “The first project pioneered international development assistance to the North-East. Approximately 50,000 households and 250,000 people in about 380 villages benefited during the last four years.” He added that as a result “many thousands more people who have been affected by conflict are now ready and eager to work with this program, and we are looking forward to bringing its benefits to even more villages than in the first phase.”

The proposed project would be implemented over a period of six years commencing from January 2005. The International Development Association (IDA), the World Bank’s concessionary lending affiliate, is providing the US$64.7 million credit to the government of Sri Lanka on standard IDA terms, with 40 years maturity and a ten-year grace period, according to the report.