A three-member team from the Export Import (Exim) Bank of India visited Sri Lanka from December 7 to 9 to review the progress of the Polgahawela and Aluthgama integrated water supply projects, being implemented under the Buyer’s Credit facilities under the National Export Insurance Account (BC-NEIA) programme.
The team which included General Manager Shilpa Waghmare, Assistant General Manager Mitali Pendharkar and Chief Manager Ranjan Roy paid a courtesy call on Indian High Commissioner Gopal Baglay on December 9 and briefed him about the progress of the projects.
The Exim Bank of India has extended Buyer’s Credit of US$ 441.42 million, to support four projects in Sri Lanka, of which two have already been completed. For the other two ongoing integrated water supply projects in Polgahawela and Aluthgama, a support of US$ 91.80 million and US$ 164.90 million respectively, has been provided to the National Water Supply and Drainage Board, Sri Lanka (NWSDB).
The project at Polgahawela is being executed by VA Tech Wabag Ltd and the project at Aluthgama by Ion Exchange (India) Ltd. Both the projects have achieved almost 90 percent physical progress.
During the visit, the Exim Bank team visited the project sites at Aluthgama and Polgahawela to assess the progress and interacted with the contractors.
The Exim Bank team held meetings with senior officials of Sri Lanka’s Department of External Resources (under the Finance Ministry) and the NWSDB in Colombo, to review and discuss the way forward for early completion of the two projects. They also discussed projects which could be taken up under the BC-NEIA programme in the future.
The water supply projects in Sri Lanka are community-centric priority projects. A project for supply, construction and commissioning of a water treatment plant and distribution to nine reservoirs across the Dambulla region has already been successfully executed by VA Tech Wabag Ltd under Buyer’s Credit.
The BC-NEIA is a concessional loan facility extended by India’s Exim Bank to sovereign governments and their nominated government-owned entities (parastatal agencies) for execution of projects in certain sectors. Presently, 91 countries are in the positive list under the BC-NEIA programme.
