World Bank assists Sri Lanka's education and urban development
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- Published on Thursday, 24 May 2012 13:24
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The World Bank has agreed to provide 314 million U.S.Dollars (approximately 37 billion rupees) to Sri Lanka for the development of education and urban development sectors in order to meet new challenges of the 21st century.
The Sri Lanka’s Ministry of Financial and Planning said that the government has requested the World Bank for funds to expedite development programs which have already been formulated in the education and urban development sectors with foreign assistance, and accordingly the World Bank has agreed to provide the funds taking into consideration development projects presented by the Sri Lankan government and the expected long term benefits of such projects.
The Ministry said that 100 million U.S.Dollars will be allocated for "Transforming the School Education System as the Foundation of a Knowledge Hub Project" under the Education Sector Development Framework and Program.
Under this program, it is proposed to establish 5,000 well performing primary-feeder school networks linking to 1,000 secondary schools. Accordingly, at least 4-5 primary-feeder schools will be identified and developed in order to cater each selected secondary school under school development program.
The balance amount will be utilized for the Metro Colombo Urban Development Project implemented by the Ministry of Defence and Urban Development. The Ministry said that the economic development of Colombo city has been hindered by improper flood management infrastructure, poor design and maintenance of drainage systems and lack of integrated flood management system. It said that the government has formulated Metro Colombo Urban Development Project to reduce the adverse physical and socio economic impact of flooding in the Colombo Metropolitan Area (CMA) and to improve overall capacity of land use and economic activities. (niz)
