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| Thursday, 2 October 2003 |
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Housing bonanza for expat workers by Ananda Kannangara Sri Lankan expatriate workers will receive a bonanza with the construction of 1000 houses under a special programme scheduled to be launched by the Sri Lanka Bureau of Foreign Employment (SLBFE) on a directive of Employment and Labour Minister Mahinda Samarasinghe. The programme will commence from December 1 this year. The Bureau initially plans to construct 200 houses in each district including Ratnapura, Kurunegala, Anuradhapura, Matara and Colombo. Each house costs Rs.500,000. "We have informed the District Divisional secretaries about the programme and requests them to find suitable lands in their respective areas to commence this programme," SLBFE, Chairman Susantha Fernando told the Daily News. He said that each house is constructed on a block of six perches and 50 per cent of the full value of the land and house will be paid by the Bureau. The Bureau has also planned to pay five per cent of the interest on the balance payment in recognition of the service rendered by the expatriate workers. He further said that after completing the first phase of this programme by July next year more houses will be constructed in other districts considering the requests of migrant workers and their family members. It is said that according to a recent research carried out by the Bureau around 15,000 Lankans leave the country for overseas jobs every month and currently at least 900,000 Lankan workers are employed abroad. Fernando said the Bureau had introduced more welfare benefits for workers seeking future foreign jobs including the free distribution of travelling bags, uniforms (sarees or shirts\ trousers) for both male and female workers to wear at the time of departure. "We were compelled to commence the programme of construction houses considering the plight of the majority of our workers especially housemaids and labourers who have no permanent dwellings of their own," he added. He said that this programme was initiated after a lengthy discussion Bureau officials had with job agents and migrant workers. |
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