MP Ranawaka comments on the LRT project

COLOMBO (News1st): The government's decision to reject a loan from Japan for a Light Rail Project in expectation of making money through commissions is dangerous, lawmaker Patali Champika Ranawaka has said. "They rejected a loan that we received from Japan at an interest rate of 0.1%. Japan has not got us trapped in any sort of debt trap," Ranawaka, a Samagi Jana Balawegaya parliamentarian said Friday. He claimed that the government had rejected the loan as they wanted to restart the project, launched by the previous government and to also loot the funds of the public. Ranawaka recalled that the incumbent government had opposed the project under the previous administration citing that it would affect paddy fields. "They are now planning on constructing the same project over the same paddy fields," he pointed out.