The Government has identified Colombo, Kandy, Galle, Anuradhapura, Trincomalee and Jaffna as Large Cities to be developed under the Strategic Cities Development Program. At the meantime, nine other cities covering entire country will be developed as urban growth centers. Accordingly, priority has been given to improve the livability and competitiveness of the selected cities. Several development partners including the Asian Development Bank, Agence’ French Development (AFD) and the World Bank have agreed in principle to support the Governments’ efforts in developing strategic cities.

International Development Association (IDA) of the World Bank has agreed to provide a credit of US$ 147 million (approx. Rs 19,110 million)for the above ‘Strategic Cities Development’ which is to be implemented through the Ministry of Defence and Urban Development, providing early and timely support to the above Urban Development Program of the Government. The project will help to plan, design and develop two selected Strategic Cities namely Galle and Kandy with the intension of considering other cities in the future and their surroundings to facilitate a guided economic transformation of these cities into major regional economic centers focusing on growth and employment generation.

The Financing Agreement on the aforesaid program was signed by Dr. P.B. Jayasundera, Secretary, Ministry of Finance and Planning on behalf of the Government of Sri Lanka, and Ms. Francoise Clottes, the World Bank Country Director for Sri Lanka and Maldives on behalf of the World Bank at the Ministry of Finance and Planning.