Sri Lanka’s Cabinet has approved a Chinese-funded project to rebuild 14 bridges damaged by Cyclone Ditwah, with Beijing providing a grant of 79 million yuan for the work.
Cabinet Spokesman Dr. Nalinda Jayatissa announced the decision on Tuesday. The bridges are spread across five provinces — Western, Sabaragamuwa, North Western, North Central and Eastern — and carry road links that were cut or weakened when the cyclone struck.
The reconstruction will run in two phases. The first phase covers nine of the 14 bridges and is scheduled for completion within 18 months. The remaining five follow in a second phase, for which no timetable was announced. Neither the minister nor the reporting identified the individual bridges, and no rupee or US dollar equivalent for the grant was given.
The approval is the first concrete Chinese commitment on bridge reconstruction since Foreign Minister Vijitha Herath raised the issue directly with Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi during Wang’s brief visit to Colombo on January 12. Herath asked for assistance rebuilding roads, railways and bridges damaged by the cyclone, and Wang said at the time that he would personally take up the request.
The grant joins a widening pool of external financing for post-Ditwah reconstruction. Sri Lanka signed a US$200 million Asian Development Bank loan on August 18 for the Post-Cyclone Ditwah Reconstruction and Livelihoods Support Project, which runs to 2030 and covers roads, irrigation systems and household livelihoods. India has extended a US$350 million credit line for cyclone reconstruction and has delivered several consignments of prefabricated Bailey bridging steel.
Because it is structured as a grant rather than a loan, the Chinese funding does not add to Sri Lanka’s external debt — a distinction that separates it from the ADB and Indian facilities secured earlier this month.
As of late Tuesday, no other verified Sri Lankan newsroom had published its own report of the Cabinet decision.
