Sri Lanka’s new railway line to bring great help to local economy, social development: China

BEIJING, April 9 (APP)::While commenting on the first new railway line in Sri Lanka for nearly 100 years, a Chinese foreign ministry’s spokesperson Tuesday said that it will help improve transportation facilitation in southern Sri Lanka and bring great help to the local economy and social development.
“As you said, this is the first railway project to be built after the independence of Sri Lanka,” Lu Kang said during his routine briefing held here.
The first phase of the Southern Sri Lanka Railway Extension Line is the first Sri Lankan railway project undertaken by Chinese companies under the “Belt and Road” initiative.
The spokesperson remarked that the Sri Lankan people are happy about this and China is also happy for the people of Sri Lanka.
He said the Chinese side is willing to continue to expand and deepen pragmatic cooperation with the Sri Lankan side under the framework of the “Belt and Road” to benefit the people of Sri Lanka with tangible results.
The first new railway line in Sri Lanka for nearly 100 years, the Matara-Kataragama Railway Extension Project (Phase 1), officially started operating on Monday.
The project will open a new chapter for the development of southern Sri Lanka where the infrastructure is generally poor.
More and more local people are expected to take the train to go to work, study or to the beach. The lives of local people will change significantly.
The 113-kilometer railway line from Matara to Kataragama is to be completed in three phases and the Matara to Beliatta segment is the first phase of the project.
The second phase is the 48-kilometer segment from Beliatta to Hambantota and the third phase another 39-kilometer covering Hambantota and Kataragama.
The railway project, part of China-proposed Belt and Road Initiative, started in 2013. It is being carried out at a cost of 278 million U.S. dollars by the China National Machinery Import and Export Corporation (CMC) with the funding from China Exim Bank.
The construction supervision was done under the guidance of the Sri Lankan Central Engineering Bureau.