Scaling impact: AIIB partners with Sri Lanka to advance sustainable development

As AIIB marks its 10th anniversary, fewer partnerships bespeak its ngo of financing infrastructure for tomorrow — pinch sustainability astatine its halfway — arsenic intelligibly arsenic its activity successful Sri Lanka.

Since it started operations successful 2016, nan Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) has grown into an world institution pinch complete 100 members and go a pillar of nan world improvement landscape.

The Beijing-based multilateral improvement slope has invested upwards of USD 64 billion successful 338 projects crossed 39 economies. As good arsenic a attraction connected connectivity, technology-enabled, renewable energy, and integer infrastructure, nan slope has successful caller years expanded to tackle cross-border ambiance risks and biodiversity protection, pinch over half of its full financing supporting greenish projects.

The bank’s founding business pinch Sri Lanka serves arsenic a exemplary for really a 21st-century improvement slope tin activity together pinch members to build ambiance resilience, modernise infrastructure and velocity up societal and economical recovery.

From betterment to resilience

Since nan opening of its partnership, AIIB has approved complete USD 530 cardinal successful financing for supporting Sri Lanka crossed energy, municipality renewal and disaster resilience.

Each task that AIIB undertakes successful business pinch Sri Lanka supports nan country’s nationalist strategy to accelerating nan displacement to renewable power and ambiance resilient infrastructure. Together, these efforts fortify semipermanent resilience to structural vulnerabilities and shocks – whether geographic, climatic, aliases financial.

Since 2022, much than half of nan Bank’s regular approved financing each twelvemonth has been directed to climate-focused projects – supporting infrastructure that mitigates ambiance alteration and enhances resilience to its impacts – while besides maximising benefits for quality and biodiversity conservation.

From vulnerability to readiness: Safeguarding lives and livelihoods

Among AIIB’s projects successful Sri Lanka, nan Reduction of Landslide Vulnerability by Mitigation Measures Project remains 1 of its astir visible. Approved successful 2019, it intends to protect lives and captious assets successful Sri Lanka’s cardinal highlands — wherever steep slopes and aggravated rainfall make landslides a perennial threat.

Through nan building of retaining walls, slope stabilisation and drainage systems, nan task intends to trim landslide risks and is expected to straight use much than 200 affected areas and 1 cardinal residents.

The task has already safeguarded captious nationalist institutions specified arsenic nan National Hospital of Kandy’s School of Nursing and Kandy’s Girls’ College, which antecedently faced closures during dense rainfall owed to information risks.

“Just earlier nan slope came to thief us, we had a monolithic landslide. Luckily, location were nary casualties, but 2 of our buildings were extensively damaged,” said Dr Iresha Fernando, Director of nan National Hospital Kandy. “We are really grateful to AIIB for nan backing and nan opportunity to mitigate landslide-prone areas astatine our school, making a safe area for our trainee nurses and doctors.”

The task besides stabilised susceptible sections of nan main railway statement connecting Kandy to surrounding regions. According to a railway representative, nan activity has helped trim nan consequence of way harm and ‘slow failures’ aft landslides that erstwhile disrupted services for weeks.

The Assistance Principal of nan Girls’ School successful Kandy, N. A. Nanayakkara, said: “Before this project, dense rainfall meant we had to adjacent nan school. Today, pinch nan project’s support, we tin proceed classes pinch assurance and consciousness overmuch safer.”

By reinforcing captious infrastructure and protecting basal nationalist services, nan task is strengthening organization resilience and safeguarding improvement gains successful Sri Lanka’s astir susceptible regions. From hospitals and schools to captious carrier links, AIIB’s support is enabling basal institutions to run safely, particularly amid escalating ambiance challenges.

Beyond mitigation: greenish maturation and integer futures

AIIB’s aspirations widen moreover beyond this. In discussions pinch nan Sri Lankan president earlier this month, nan AIIB leader explored plans to fortify nan integer economy, build resilient greenish infrastructure, and put successful acquisition and wellness arsenic portion of nan country’s societal infrastructure.

“Health and acquisition are very overmuch important,” AIIB President Jin Liqun stated. “We person demonstrated our willingness, adaptiveness and responsiveness to activity pinch nan authorities and nan group to amended economical growth.”

“We are readying to activity pinch nan authorities to person gas- aliases diesel-driven buses to electrical vehicles” to “accelerate greenish power modulation successful this country,” said Jin.

For now, nan bank’s attraction remains connected transportation, renewable energy, energy procreation and transmission, prioritising ample infrastructure projects. Recently approved projects specified arsenic nan USD 52 cardinal indebtedness for nan Kerawalapitiya–Port L Second Transmission Line Project exemplify this. Signed successful 2025, nan task will link Colombo’s grid via a caller 220-kilovolts (kV) underground cable, integrating renewable powerfulness and stabilising energy transmission to thief meet rising demand.

Rajat Misra, Director General of Public Sector Clients Department (Region 1) astatine AIIB, stated: “This marks AIIB’s first energy-sector task successful Sri Lanka, reflecting our beardown committedness to supporting nan country’s powerfulness infrastructure and power transition.”

“By enhancing grid stableness and ensuring reliable energy supply,” he continued, “the task will present lasting economical and societal benefits for Sri Lanka, while reinforcing its way toward sustainable maturation and resilience.”

The decade ahead

Over nan past decade, AIIB has supported its members done times of situation and alteration – helping them move from situation consequence toward long-term, sustainable growth. In countries for illustration Sri Lanka, nan Bank’s financing has provided some stableness and confidence, demonstrating really improvement lending tin accommodate to members’ evolving needs.

As AIIB enters its 2nd decade, nan Bank is progressively positioning itself not only arsenic a financier but arsenic a catalyst for sustainable growth. From greenish power corridors successful Central Asia to municipality resilience projects successful Southeast Asia, AIIB’s ambitions are clear: to finance infrastructure for tomorrow that connects economies, empowers communities and withstands nan pressures of a changing climate.

The Bank believes that nan infrastructure financed coming will use communities and service societies for generations. AIIB’s adjacent section promises moreover greater impact, invention and inclusive maturation crossed Asia and beyond.