India's Road Transport and Highways Minister Nitin Gadkari informed Lok Sabha yesterday that India will construct a bridge and tunnel linking Rameswaram in India with Sri Lanka.

The Asian Development Bank is prepared to fully fund the construction, Gadkari said.

“The Asian Development Bank is ready to fully finance a bridge building project connecting Rameswaram to Sri Lanka. The project was also discussed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi with his counterpart during the latter’s recent visit,” Gadkari said in a suo motu statement in the Lok Sabha.

“The government has been focused on enhancing regional cooperation. Subsequent to the PM’s announcement of ‘Act East’ policy, India pro-actively engaged in building effective and credible links between South Asia and South East Asia through enhanced regional connectivity,” he said.

The India-SL connectivity project cost is expected to be around Indian Rs 240,000 million.