Colombo, July 09: On the instructions of Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Abdullah, relief supplies from Saudi Arabia arrived at Colombo airport on Wednesday for distribution among refugees of the recent fighting in Sri Lanka.
Some 300,000 Sri Lankans have been displaced by the war to recapture rebel-held territories in north and east of the island.
Abdul Rahman Al-Jammaz, the Saudi ambassador in Colombo, and Riyad Al-Kheneini, deputy chief of mission, received a Saudi Arabian Airlines flight carrying 100 tons of relief supplies. Senior officials from the Sri Lankan Foreign Ministry, including the director of the Middle East desk, were also present.
“Saudi Arabia, which is home to 550,000 Sri Lankans, has always come forward to help in our difficult times. We are grateful to King Abdullah who has responded spontaneously for this project on which we are spending 250 million rupees daily,” said Keheliya Rabukwella, a Sri Lankan government spokesman.
He said it is “a clear manifestation of the true friendship enjoyed by the two countries from time immemorial.”
Al-Jammaz said the Kingdom’s national carrier has been tasked to ferry relief materials to Colombo. He added besides this flight load of relief materials — which includes tents, foodstuffs, medicines and medical equipment — a subsequent 100-ton cargo would reach Katunayake Airport on Saturday morning.
Kheneini said the Kingdom has always helped the island in times of need. A similar consignment of relief materials was sent to the island when Sri Lanka was struck with tsunami. “At that time, we donated a fleet of ambulances to do relief work for victims,” Kheneini said.
He recalled that the Kingdom has provided a soft loan of SR75 million (approximately 2,175 million rupees) for the construction of an epilepsy hospital and a supplementary loan of SR11 million (approximately 20 million rupees) for the extension of the Neuro-Trauma Center at the Colombo General Hospital.
“Saudi Arabia has also offered SR99.9 million for the second stage of the Water Supply and Sewage project. It previously gave SR48.1 million for the Mahaweli Ganga Development Project System B in 1981. Subsequently, Sri Lanka obtained SR85 million for the Mahaweli Ganga Development Project System in 1984,” Al-Jammaz said.
The envoy said the Saudi Fund for Development had granted SR40 million for the construction of a bridge and widening a highway on the island.
Two months ago, the Saudi government donated SR75,000 to the Islamic Center for the Physically Handicapped in Sri Lanka for the education of its mentally retarded children. The center has 42 such children among its 225 inmates, including 62 girls.
—Agencies