The Asian Development Bank (ADB) has said it will review the Southern highway project by end this year, to tackle environmental and re-settlement complaints.
In a statement issued on Wednesday, the Manila based Bank said its Board had approved several recommendations of a report drawn up in response to complaints of non-compliance in November last year.
“The Board accepted the main findings of the report, drawn up by ADB’s Compliance Review Panel on the Southern Development Transport Project (STDP) in Sri Lanka, that some ADB policies had not been complied with,” the statement said.
“It directed that steps be taken to meet the shortcomings of the project.” An action plan is due by end August with a review of the project in the last quarter of 2005.
A complaint was filed with ADB’s Compliance Review Panel in November 2004, questioning compliance with the Bank’s internal operational procedures.
Among the findings of the panel was that environmental impact assessments done in 1999 do n