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Govt launches Rs. 7.5 b housing project for war hit North-East

The Government will launch a massive Rs. 7.5 billion project to construct 31,500 war affected houses in the North and East parallel to the permanent housing projects for the tsunami affected in the province, Rehabilitation, Reconstruction and Reconciliation Ministry Secretary M. S. Jayasinghe told the Daily News.

The project to be completed over four years commencing this year will be launched on May 19. The project launch follows the successful completion of the pilot project to construct 860 houses in the North and East last year, he said.

The construction process is scheduled to commence on June 1."The World Bank has agreed to increase the money from Rs. 150,000 per house to Rs. 250,000 following the Government decision to grant Rs.250,000 to construct tsunami affected houses," Jayasinghe added.

RRR Ministry Senior Advisor S. Sivadasan said Rs. 250,000 will be provided for the construction of 500 square feet houses fully damaged during the conflict.

Rs. 100,000 will be issued to reconstruct partly damaged houses.

The project will cover Jaffna, Kilinochchi, Mullaitivu, Mannar, Vavuniya, Trincomalee, Batticaloa and Ampara districts and will be implemented under the supervision of the Chief Secretary of the North East Provincial Council with the Project Management Unit in Trincomalee.

The RRR Ministry, on the special instruction of President Chandrika Bandaranaike Kumaratunga has also released Rs.45 million each for Jaffna, Mullaitivu and Kilinochchi districts to construct 100 houses for tsunami affected people in each of these districts.

"This will be released for the most deserving tsunami affected people in Jaffna, Mullaitivu and Kilinochchi districts," he said.