India to help rebuild Sri Lankan railways damaged in war

Fri, 26 Nov 2010

Colombo – The Indian government agreed Friday to help rebuild railway lines damaged during fighting between Sri Lankan government troops and ethnic Tamil rebels in the north of the country, officials said.

The two countries signed a credit agreement for 416 million dollars at the President's Office in Colombo for the construction of the rail lines.

President Mahinda Rajapaksa and visiting Indian External Affairs Minister SM Krishna attended the ceremony.

The project is to rebuild rail lines between Vavuniya town and Jaffna city and from Medawachchiya to Mannar that were damaged during fighting with the separatist rebels, which lasted 26 years and ended last year with the rebels' defeat.

"In most areas, the railway lines do not exist as the tracks were removed by the rebels for their bunkers," a railway official said.

The Indian government is also helping Sri Lanka to construct 50,000 houses for people displaced by the war. The first phase of the project is to be launched Saturday when Krishna tours the north.

Source: Earth Times.
Link: http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/news/355312,lankan-railways-damaged-war.html.