ECONOMYNEXT – A $1.5 billion worth Light Rail Transit (LRT) project unilaterally cancelled by former Sri Lanka leader Gotabaya Rajapaksa could be considered a new possible future project, Japanese Ambassador to Sri Lanka Mizukoshi Hideaki said.
Japan on Wednesday announced the resumption of 11 suspended projects in Sri Lanka after the island nation defaulted on sovereign debts and declared bankruptcy in April 2022.
Sri Lanka has repeatedly requested the Japanese government to resume the LRT project, but the Japanese government has yet to commit to the project.
“It was not an existing project when the projects were suspended,” Ambassador Hideaki told EconomyNext.
“It needs to be considered carefully. We have to monitor the situation of the implementation of ongoing projects. Then we need to consider the economic indicators of Sri Lanka and the profitability of the project and if there are Japanese and Sri Lanka contractors to implement the project.”
He said that the project will be considered as a “new project” after all the assessment, if Sri Lanka is interested.
The project was cancelled by Rajapaksa without any discussion with Japan or its main funding agency Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) in 2021, leading to severed ties in the diplomatic relations between the two countries.
Sri Lanka President Ranil Wickremesinghe has apologized to the Japanese government in May 2023 in his official visit to Tokyo for the cancellation of the project.
Though Japan has agreed to resume the entire projects stopped due to Sri Lanka’s unprecedented economic crisis, Tokyo has not agreed to resume the LRT after the then Japanese government went out of way to help Sri Lanka to fund the project, government officials have said.
The cancellation of the JICA-funded project by Gotabaya Rajapaksa’s government, which was closer to Beijing in 2021, has hurt Japan, top Sri Lankan diplomats have said.
Rajapaksa’s government also unilaterally cancelled a port terminal project that was agreed with India and Japan.
The East Asian nation has long been the top concessional financial aid provider to Sri Lanka with mutually beneficial diplomatic ties going back seven decades.
Sri Lanka has agreed to pay about $3.4 million (about billion Sri Lankan rupees) to a consultancy led by Japanese firms, after the LRT project was cancelled suddenly. (Colombo/July 24/2024)