India's Minister of State for Road Transport and Highways said Sri Lanka has not yet approved a project to link the island's Tamil North-East with Tamil Nadu in the south of India.
Pon Radhakrishnan said on Monday the Indian government had asked the Asian Development Bank to carry out feasibility studies into the project, but that Sri Lanka is yet "to give the nod", the Economic Times reported.
At the beginning of July Union Minister Nitin Gadkari said the project to build a road, leading across a bridge and through a tunnel, was already in its planning stages and the Asian Development Bank had pledged Rs 220bn ($3.5bn) towards it.
After India submitted its feasibility proposal to the ADB in June, Sri Lanka said it had not held any discussions with the Indian government on this issue.
India working on project to build road to Sri Lanka with ADB support (09 July 2015)
Sri Lanka considers re-establishing Tamil Nadu ferry link (20 June 2015)
No discussions held on India's road-rail link submission at ADB says Sri Lanka (20 June 2015)
ADB commits to increase lending to India (18 Jun 2015)
India submits feasibility proposal to ADB for bridge to North-East (17 Jun 2015)
UNHCR calls for Sri Lanka to renew ferry service to India to aid Tamil refugee resettlement (14 May 2015)
India ‘keen’ to restart ferry service between Tamil Nadu and North-East (11 March 2015)
NPC resolution demands transport links between North-East and India (19 February 2014)
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