(UDHAYAM, COLOMBO) – The Kaluganga Development Project is currently being implemented by the Ministry of Mahaweli Development and Environment with the financial assistance of Saudi Fund for Development (SFD), Kuwait Fund for Arab Economic Development (KFAD) and OPEC Fund for International Development (OFID). The proposed Kaluganga Reservoir will have a capacity of 265 million cubic meters (MCM) of water and will divert 100 MCM annually to Moragahakanda Reservoir.
It has been identified that the financial assistance received from the above lenders are not adequate to complete the project as the cost of the project has increased during the project implementation due to various reasons including unforeseen geological conditions in the foundations and necessary design revisions.
To partly finance the funding shortfall, KFAD agreed to provide a supplementary loan of KD 5 million (approximately USD 16.5 million). This loan is provided at an interest rate of 1.5 % per annum with a repayment period of 22 years. The Kuwait Fund for Arab Economic Development has already provided KD 10 million for this project in 2009. The OFID has already agreed to provide an additional loan of USD18 million.
The signing of the agreement pertaining to the above loan took place on 30th March 2017 at the office of KFAD in Kuwait. Hamad AL-Omar, Deputy Director General signed the agreement on behalf of the Kuwait Fund for Arab Economic Development while Dr. R.H.S. Samaratunga, Secretary, Ministry of Finance signed on behalf of the Government of Sri Lanka.
