The Korea International Cooperation Agency (KOICA) and UN-Habitat Sri Lanka handed over three water and sanitation facilities to the Nuwara Eliya Municipal Council on May 12, concluding a four-year, US$5.5 million community resilience project that benefited an estimated 106,000 people across the Central and Uva provinces.
The facilities handed over by KOICA Deputy Country Director Yunsoo Jeon include an improved water purification facility at Haddon Hill, a water recycling facility at Lake Gregory, and an upgraded community sewerage system at the Srinagar settlement.
The project, titled “Strengthening Socioeconomic Resilience of Communities Affected by the COVID-19 Pandemic in the Central and Uva Provinces of Sri Lanka,” ran from 2022 to 2026 in Nuwara Eliya and Badulla districts. It was implemented by UN-Habitat Sri Lanka in partnership with the Government of Sri Lanka and worked across health, agriculture and water-sanitation sectors.
Other deliverables include the upgrading of 47 field maternal and child health care centres, establishment of 11 community water supply schemes, upgrading of three hospital sewerage facilities with hospital waste management systems, establishment of 20 polytunnels and 16 rain shelters for farmers, and home gardening support to 200 households.
Attending the handover were Nuwara Eliya Mayor Upali Wanigasekara, Senior Assistant Secretary to the Ministry of Public Administration K.P.K.N. Alagalla, Badulla Government Agent Sunil Galagama, Nuwara Eliya Municipal Council Commissioner Bandara, and UN-Habitat Country Programme Manager Harshini Halangode.
The completion follows continued Korean development engagement in Sri Lanka’s plantation districts, where post-pandemic recovery and infrastructure gaps have remained policy priorities.
