ndia will disburse around 350 million dollar equivalent of 450 million dollars of aid committed for cyclone recovery to Sri Lanka in Indian rupees, High Commissioner Satosh Jha said.
India is giving 100 million dollars of the of the reconstruction aid in grants.
“The assistance will be multi-pronged, assisting Sri Lanka in sectors that are the worst hit,” High Commissioner Jha told reporters in Colombo.
“The five categories of support are rehabilitation and restoration of road, railway and bridge connectivity, support for construction of houses fully destroyed and partially damaged.
“Support for health and education systems, in particular those that have been damaged by the cyclone, support for agriculture, including to address possible shortages in the short and medium term, working towards better disaster response and preparedness.”
A joint monitoring and coordination of EM’s representatives across ministries has been set up.
The first meeting co-chaired by High Commissioner Jha Minister Anil Jayantha had been held in the last week of December.
India will re-build damaged bridges for which close to 30 million dollars had been allocated.
India will also help with re-building rail tracks. Sri Lanka officials have said that reconstructing rail tracks would cost more than 330 million US dollars with upcountry tracks most heavily damaged.
India will immediately start reconstructing the Northern Railway track, High Commissioner Jha said.
The restoration is expected to cost around 5 million US dollars.
India’s IRCON, a state engineering firm, built the Northern track with welded rails and a strengthened base, which is capable of running trains at 100 kilometres per hour.
Some of Sri Lanka’s other tracks including have delapidated tracks where trains are run at slow speeds of around 20 kmph to prevent de-railing.
About 350 million dollar-equivalent of the 450 million dollar aid package would be denominated in Indian rupees, High Commissioner Jha said.
India previously gave a billion US dollar equivalent credit line through the State Bank of India in Indian rupees to Sri Lanka after the island’s central bank created severe forex shortages through inflationary open market operations making it difficult to pay for imports via the domestic banking system.
As long as Indian suppliers are willing to accept Indian rupees in payment, Sri Lanka can easily use credit lines or grants in Indian rupees.
Countries like Japan have funded large projects in Sri Lanka through yen loans for decades. China has also given Sri Lanka Yuan denominated loans.