COLOMBO, April 2019: China has financed and constructed Sri Lanka’s first new railway line after the island nation became independent in 1948.
The 26.75-km long Matara-Beliatta railway extension was declared open for the public by Sri Lanka’s Transport and Civil Aviation Minister Arjuna Ranatunga on 8 April in the presence of Finance Minister Mangala Samaraweera and other parliamentarians.
At the Matara railway station, a special train set off on its maiden journey on the newly-built railway around 9:00 a.m. local time, and arrived at the final Beliatta station an hour later.
The railway extension, which will hopefully boost passenger traffic into the deep south, was financed by the Export-Import Bank of China (China Exim Bank) and the contract was awarded to China National Machinery Import and Export Corporation. A major portion of the construction was carried out by China Railway Group 5 (CR5) and Sri Lanka’s Central Engineering Consultancy Bureau (CECB).
Minister Ranatunga expressed gratitude to the Chinese government for their assistance in the project.
“I am also glad to be able to open this railway line before the Sinhala and Tamil New Year so that it would benefit the people travelling from Colombo to Hambantota for the New Year,” Ranatunga said.
The remaining work of expanding the railway line from Beliatta to Hambantota and then to Kataragama, in the Uva province will also commence soon.
The Matara-Beliatta railway line is the first to be constructed in Sri Lanka since 1948 and it includes the longest and second longest railway bridges of 1.5 km and 1.04 km, respectively. The railway line also includes one of the tallest railway bridges, the longest railway tunnel and the most modern railway station buildings in the country.
Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Lu Kang confirmed Chinese funding of the project.
“Yes, the phase-one extension line of the southern railway in Sri Lanka is the first railway project contracted by a Chinese company in Sri Lanka under the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) and it is indeed the first railway built after the country’s independence,” the spokesperson said.
“It is now officially opened and it will make regional transportation more convenient and facilitate local economic and social development. The Sri Lankan people are pleased to see that and China is pleased for the Sri Lankan people,” Lu said.
“China will like to expand and deepen our practical cooperation under the BRI and deliver benefits to the people with concrete outcomes,” Lu added.
