ADB in US$ 120 million Sri Lanka loan

The Asian Development Bank (ADB) has loaned Sri Lanka US$ 120 million to support projects aimed at improving and expanding the country's power network.

The funds will go into Sri Lanka's Sustainable Power Sector Support Project (SPSS), which the ADB said aimed to build "hundreds of km" of new transmission lines in regions such as the Eastern and Uva Provinces.

The project will also finance the design of a new 30 mW hydropower plant and provide private developers with a credit line of nearly US$ 1.3 million for 19 smaller hydropower facilities.

In addition to the ADB loan, the Sri Lankan government is providing around US$ 42 million towards the initiative, bringing the total project cost to US$ 162 million. Sri Lanka's Ministry of Power and Energy has timetabled the SPSS for completion in April, 2014.