Sri Lanka's President Rajapaksa has ordered the suspension of a Japanese funded light rail project, saying it is "expensive and not cost-effective," AFP reported on the 27th. The total investment scale of the project is about 250 billion yen (about 16.2 billion yuan), all of which adopt Japanese technology, and Japan has promised to provide loans for this purpose.
The project is located in Colombo, the capital of Sri Lanka. It is a 15.7km long elevated light rail. It is planned to set up 16 stations, including vehicles, using Japanese technology. Initial construction has begun. It is the largest foreign funded project in Sri Lanka's history, mainly aimed at easing traffic congestion in Colombo. Japan's International Cooperation Agency (JICA) has promised to provide loans for this purpose, and has already provided an initial loan of 30 billion yen in 2019. JICA said it had seen the relevant reports, but would not make specific comments.