New Delhi: India on Tuesday (December 23) announced a $450 million reconstruction package for a Sri Lanka left devastated by Cyclone Ditwah and its accompanying floods and mudslides.External affairs minister S. Jaishankar, who travelled to Colombo in his capacity as special envoy of the prime minister, announced that the package will consist of concessional lines worth $350 million and grants worth $100 million.It will cover five areas of recovery – repairing roads, railways and bridges; rebuilding houses; support for health and educational systems; support for agriculture, including means to address potential short and medium-term shortages; and working on better disaster preparedness and response – and its details are being finalised in consultation with Colombo, Jaishankar said.He met Sri Lankan President Anura Dissanayake earlier on Tuesday, and the two discussed the damage dealt by Ditwah as well as “how expeditiously this commitment [the package] can be delivered”, Jaishankar said in his press remarks at the Presidential Secretariat in Colombo.India’s relief operations during the cyclone under Operation Sagar Bandhu had involved 1,100 tonnes of relief material, 14.5 tonnes of medicines and medical equipment, an 80-member contingent of the National Disaster Response Force as well as the deployment of naval and air force platforms for assistance, Jaishankar said.Sri Lankan foreign affairs minister Vijitha Herath thanked India for the reconstruction package. “Through this gesture, India has once again demonstrated its enduring friendship and solidarity,” he said in his remarks.Herath, who recalled New Delhi’s financial assistance worth around $4 billion during the Sri Lankan economic crisis, noted that all tourist attractions have been re-opened in the weeks after the cyclone. “India remains the largest source of tourists to Sri Lanka and a positive message from you, Dr Jaishankar, would greatly enhance traveller confidence and encourage continued visits,” he said.Jaishankar responded that New Delhi will “continue to encourage tourism traffic from India”. “Similarly, an increase in foreign direct investment from India can also boost your economy at a critical time,” he proposed.The worst natural disaster to hit Sri Lanka since the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami, Ditwah left 643 people dead, 183 people missing and over 66,000 others displaced as gales, floods and mudslides wreaked havoc over the island nation, according to the UN Resident Coordinator for Sri Lanka.It also damaged 1,06,000 hectares (2,61,932 acres) of paddy during the ‘Maha’ season that generally accounts for more than 70% of yearly rice production, it added.Damages to buildings, key infrastructure and agriculture are estimated at $4.1 billion – some 4% of the country’s GDP – per a World Bank Group estimate.Apart from meeting Herath and Dissanayake, Jaishankar also met Sri Lankan Prime Minister Harini Amarasuriya, three other ministers in the government and leader of opposition Sajith Premadasa.Along with Herath and in Dissanayake’s presence he inaugurated a dual carriageway Bailey bridge that was airlifted by India and set up by Indian army personnel in Kilinochchi in northern Sri Lanka, an area particularly hit hard by Ditwah.Later he also met Indian entrepreneurs in addition to leaders from the Sri Lankan Tamil and Indian Tamil communities in Colombo.