The government decides to restart the light rail transit project proposed to be built with the support of Japan.
The Cabinet of Ministers has approved the proposal presented by the President to prepare an appropriate timeline for reaching the relevant agreement by reactivating the discussions with the Japanese diplomatic mission in Colombo.
As a solution to the severe traffic congestion in Colombo city and its surroundings, this light rail project was proposed to be constructed from Colombo Fort to Malabe.
After land acquisition, this project was supposed to start in 2020 and be completed by mid-2024.
The financial and technical support for this railway project is provided by Japan’s International Cooperation Agency (JICA).
The Japanese government had previously agreed to provide a loan of 1,850 million US dollars for that purpose.
But this light rail project was stopped due to the economic and social crises faced by the country in the last season.
It was supposed to be built with a length of 16 km and 16 stations.
Through this train service, it will be possible to travel from Malabe to Colombo Fort in 30 minutes.
The train service was planned to operate with a train arriving at a station every 4 minutes during peak hours and every 10 minutes during normal hours.
