The government is negotiating a $ 40 million World Bank loan for rehabilitation work for the Northern and Eastern provinces. The project component includes repairing of damaged schools, helping internally displaced persons to resettle in their homes, rehabilitation of health clinics, water supply projects and rehabilitation of damaged tanks.

World Bank Country Director for Sri Lanka Peter Harrold said that these funds should be available for disbursement before the end of the year. The implementing agency would be the local authorities in those areas.

He expected that most of these funds would be utilised before the end of next year. These funds are in addition to some $ 37 million already released by the Bank for various development projects in the Northern and Eastern provinces. They include $ 27 million for the rehabilitation of tanks, $ 8 million for education and $ 2 million for the rehabilitation of damaged court buildings.

Harrold further said that the Bank had not made any other fresh commitments for Sri Lanka covering the Bank’s financial year beginning from July. ‘But this is nothing unusual. Though the Bank’s financial year begins in July, it does not necessarily mean that the announcement of the Bank’s commitments for a financial year coincides with the beginning of that particular year,’ he said.

He also said that the World Bank in general makes commitments to a country for a three year period. The value of the commitment made for the financial years covering the three year financial period from July 1999 to June 2002 was in the region of $ 165 million, he said. He however expected the Bank to make a substantial commitment for the three year period beginning from July of this year, depending on the progress made on the peace front. (PA)