France’s contributions to humanitarian and development actions in Sri Lanka
Over the past three years and in addition to its yearly contributions to UN agencies for their operations worldwide, France has provided 2 225 000 euros to UNHRC in Sri Lanka to support internally displaced persons and facilitate their return home.
Together with the Government of Sri Lanka and the Asian Development Bank, France is also co- financing the Jaffna and Kilinochchi Water Supply and Sanitation Project. This project aims at giving people living in targeted urban and rural areas in the peninsula access to water and sanitation as well as at strengthening the capacity of local structures to protect and manage water resources. The construction of the water supply, sewerage and sanitation networks has begun in 2012 and is due to end in June 2016. On completion, 300 000 people will have access to water and 100 000 people will benefit from the sewerage infrastructures, thus improving health, human and economic development and reducing the vulnerability of the populations.
France’s contribution will help finance part of the water supply component of the project, through a concessional loan of 35 M Euros to the Government of Sri Lanka. Among other structures, this loan will enable the construction of a water intake, a raw water transmission main, a water treatment plant, a pumping station and a treated water transmission main. In the Eastern Province
Since 2005 France has been committed to support the Eastern province’s reconstruction and development through a major development project, which will come to term at the end of the year.
The project focuses on the construction and rehabilitation of public infrastructure in the district of Trincomalee, such as roads ( t h e A 1 5 road betwe e n Trincomalee and Thirukkodiyamadu, the B10 road between Kantale and the seashore and the C- Class coastal road of Trincomalee district), bridges ( 5 bridges on the A15), the networks for water supply and distribution of electricity, and community development infrastructure ( schools, libraries, medical centres, etc), through a very concessional loan of 79 M Euros from the French Development Agency to the Government of Sri Lanka.
France’s action in the water sec- tor will further be accompanied by the rehabilitation of the water treatment unit of Kantale, financed through a concessional loan ( 12.5 M Euros) from the French ministry of Economy, Finances and Industry under the RPE - Réserve Pays Emergents - scheme and undertaken by the French company VINCI. Once this will be fully completed, presumably in October, more than 300 000 inhabitants will have access to water of better quality.
In 2010, PROPARCO (the private sector arm of the French Development Agency), signed a second loan agreement for 10 M Euros with the leasing company Lanka Orix, in order to support its investments in the Northern and Eastern parts of the country. This enables small and medium companies, which had previously no access to loans, to purchase new equipment and develop their activities. This new funding aims at rebalancing regional disparities and boost the recovery of the local economy.
AFD also supports Solidarité Laïque’s ( a French NGO) programme with a roughly 430 000 Euros grant accorded this year for the implementation of the second phase of their educational project which aims to contribute to the goal “Education for All” in Eastern Province by improving exchanges between civil society and public authorities in charge of Education sector.
AFD provided 10 M Euros for a project to uplift the construction sector in the Tsunami affected area through a very concessional line of credit of 9 M Euros managed since 2005 by Central Bank of Sri Lanka and through the construction of the Advanced Construction Training Academy – ACTA for 1 M Euros. ACTA is a vocational training centre for the construction sector which begins to have an international reputation thanks to its partnership with Northumbria University in United Kingdom.
In addition, the French Ministry of Economy, Finances and Industry has provided financing for several other projects under the RPE facility as part of the French Government’s continuing commitment to help Sri Lanka in the reconstruction process:
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