The Deputy General Secretary of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Japan said that the resumption of the Japanese-aided light rail project, which was canceled by former President Gotabaya Rajapaksa, could not be done soon.
Kaneko Mariko, Deputy Press Secretary of the Japanese Ministry of Foreign Affairs, who met a select group of journalists, said that the project was canceled even before Sri Lanka was declared bankrupt.
Deputy Press Secretary Kaneko Mariko stated that if an LRT project is to be started again, it should be a new project, she said that it depends on Sri Lanka’s debt sustainability and its scale.
The project to decongest the city was financed through a concessional loan of $1.4 billion from the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA). JICA had charged a concessional interest of 0.01% for the project, which was to run the Lighte train from Malabe to Fort.