Sri Lanka and China have signed a formal agreement to begin a Chinese-funded project to reconstruct 14 major bridges destroyed by Cyclone Ditwah, moving a commitment approved by the Cabinet five weeks ago into implementation.
The agreement was signed at the Ministry of Transport, Highways and Urban Development in Colombo, with Chinese Ambassador Wei Huaxiang and Ministry Secretary Asiri Karunawardena representing the two sides, NewsFirst reported.
Ambassador Wei said the approval process had been accelerated after a request from the Sri Lankan government, and that China sent a team of experts to carry out field inspections and technical assessments before the project was cleared.
Karunawardena said the work would help overcome the transport difficulties left by the cyclone and strengthen the road network more generally.
This is the signing, not the approval
The funding itself is not new. The Cabinet approved the Chinese-funded rebuild on August 25, when Cabinet Spokesman Dr. Nalinda Jayatissa announced a grant of RMB 79 million covering 14 bridges across the Western, Sabaragamuwa, North Western, North Central and Eastern provinces.
That decision set out a two-phase schedule: nine bridges in a first phase due within 18 months, and the remaining five in a second phase with no announced timetable. Tuesday’s signing is the step that puts the grant into effect. Neither the August announcement nor this week’s reporting identified the individual bridges, and no rupee or US dollar equivalent for the grant has been given.
Because the money is structured as a grant rather than a loan, it does not add to Sri Lanka’s external debt — the distinction that separates it from the US$200 million Asian Development Bank loan signed on August 18 for post-cyclone reconstruction and from India’s US$350 million credit line.
Context
Cyclone Ditwah struck Sri Lanka between late November and early December 2025, killing more than 600 people and causing damage estimated at around US$4.1 billion. Collapsed bridges severed road links in several districts, and restoring them has been among the slower parts of the recovery.
The bridge request was first raised by Foreign Minister Vijitha Herath with Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi during Wang’s visit to Colombo on January 12.
A note on sourcing: Ada Derana also reported the signing, but its site returned a CloudFront error and could not be fetched to verify independently, so it is not cited here. No other verified Sri Lankan newsroom had published its own account at the time of writing.
