By Imesh RanasingheThe Western Region Light Railway Transit (LRT) is a public-private partnership (PPP) project adopted by the Government of Sri Lanka to address the increasing traffic congestion in the Colombo metropolitan region. However, with the termination of the Japanese-funded LRT project and the current economic crisis faced by Sri Lanka, the dream for a LRT remains impossible. In 2016, the former Government under President Maithripala Sirisena requested financing assistance from Japan International Co-operation Agency (JICA) for the LRT project. According to the Transport Development Project Report, 3,350,991 passengers in 888,215 vehicles travelled to the Colombo metropolitan region in 2019. Costs and benefitsConsidering the cost of the LRT project, this proposed plan will only take about 2% of that entire cost.

Source: The Nation August 14, 2021 18:56 UTC