The Government of Sri Lanka has planned to take up sustainable development initiatives in key strategic cities of the country with growth potential outside Colombo, which include cities in Colombo-Trincomalee economic corridor (Trincomalee, Dambulla and Kurunegala) and another important city (Rathnapura) which is a main commercial and agricultural hub.

In this endeavour the Asian Development Bank aimed to finance the Sustainable Urban Development Project (SUDP) under the Strategic Cities Development Programme (SCDP), a Program envisaged to develop strategic cities across the country (including Kandy – Keios project in 2015-2018). In order to ensure project readiness before approval of the loan, ADB agreed to support the SUDP preparation by financing the preparation of required plans, feasibility studies and preliminary designs to meet ADB financing requirements.

The objective of this assignment was to undertake feasibility studies and preliminary design for urban upgrading and heritage conservation investment projects in each of the four cities of Trincomalee, Dambulla, Kurunegala and Rathnapura.