Colombo: Sri Lanka's Road Development Authority has incurred a loss of nearly Rs 75 billion due to the destruction of roads and bridges caused by the devastating Cyclone Ditwah, a parliamentary oversight committee was told on Tuesday.
Furthermore, the officials stated that when taking into account the additional rehabilitation work required to restore the destroyed roads and bridges fully, it has been estimated that a sum of approximately Rs 190 billion will be required for this purpose, the Department of Communications of Parliament said in a statement.
It was pointed out that some 316 roads and 40 bridges under the purview of the Road Development Authority have been damaged. The officials informed the committee that they expect to secure a loan of Rs 2 billion from the World Bank, and that funds required to carry out this rehabilitation work are also expected to be secured from several other institutions.
The state power entity, Ceylon Electricity Board (CEB), informed the committee that the Board had incurred an estimated loss of approximately Rs 20 billion due to the disaster situation. The CEB will also secure a loan from the World Bank. In addition, the loss incurred by the Lanka Electricity Company (Pvt) Ltd has been estimated to be Rs 252 million due to the disaster situation. The National Water Supply and Drainage Board has incurred an estimated loss of approximately Rs 5.6 billion due to the disaster situation.
Officials told the committee that 156 water supply schemes of the National Water Supply and Drainage Board were damaged, and that all of them have now been restored after carrying out maintenance work. The Water Board envisages a grant from the Asian Development Bank for reconstruction.
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