Sri Lanka to call for monorail proposals this month

Sri Lankan government will make a request for proposals to build a monorail or mass rapid transit system (MRT) for the capital Colombo this month, the head of the investment promotion agency said.

“RFPs for the monorail project will be out within the next 10 days,” said Upul Jayasuriya, chairman of the Board of Investment.

The transport system proposed to be built will be either a monorail or MRT and will take four years to come into operation, he told reporters at a forum organized by the Sri Lanka – Germany Business Council of the Ceylon Chamber of Commerce.

The project’s cost has been estimated at 1.9 billion US dollars by the Japan International Co-operation Agency which has helped the island develop a transportation master plan.

Jayasuriya said the project will be done on a build-operate-transfer basis with “no financial drain on the government.” (Economy Next)