Switzerland has joined the Government's housing reconstruction programme in the tsunami affected areas by providing a grant of US $ 7 million (Rs. 700 million), the Finance Ministry said yesterday.
The grant funds will be used to provide cash grants to reconstruct fully or partly damaged houses located outside the coastal buffer zone.
Under the Government housing reconstruction programme household of a fully damaged house will receive a grant of Rs. 250,000 and household of a partly damaged house a grant of Rs. 100,000.
Matara and Trincomalee Districts have been identified for the cash grants provided by Switzerland. The funds will be channelled to the recipients through the Bank of Ceylon and the People's Bank.
Switzerland is the second donor to participate in the Government cash grant programme for housing reconstruction in the Tsunami affected areas. The World Bank, the first to join the Government housing reconstruction programme, provided US $ 40 million (Rs. 4 billion) under an Agreement signed on April 1, 2005.
The Agreement for the Swiss grant was signed yesterday at the Ministry of Finance and Planning. Bernardino Regazzoni, the Ambassador for Switzerland in Sri Lanka signed the Agreement on behalf of the Government of Switzerland and Dr. P.B. Jayasundera, Secretary, Ministry of Finance and Planning on behalf of the Government of Sri Lanka.
Switzerland will also continue its ongoing reconstruction programme of schools in Matara and Jaffna. The Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC) and other Swiss donors such as Swiss Solidarity and the Swiss Red Cross are funding the housing repair and reconstruction programme of the Government of Sri Lanka on a participatory scheme.
The funds cover the reconstruction and repair of approximately 4,000 fully or partially damaged houses in the Trincomalee and Matara districts.
All Tsunami affected households outside the restricted area (Buffer Zone) will be provided with phased cash grants to repair or rebuild their houses. The construction process will be managed by the families, while Switzerland will provide expertise through SDC.
Three experts each in Trincomalee and Matara will integrate local governmental bodies to implement the programme and exchange knowledge on the participatory reconstruction programmes.
Additional cash projects as Cash for Host families, Cash for Rent or Cash for Livelihood will be directly implemented by the SDC experts for cash programmes in the same districts with a total budget of US$ two million.
Switzerland has already started a school reconstruction programme in Matara, where SDC will reconstruct seven schools. The post-conflict rehabilitation programme in the North of the island, which Switzerland has been running for two years, is being continued. In the Jaffna Peninsula, SDC has already rebuilt 14 schools and will reconstruct one tsunami affected school.
With its post conflict school rehabilitation programme in Jaffna and the new programmes in Matara and Trincomalee, SDC will be present in three tsunami affected areas of the country.
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