President lays stone for Govt. houses at Summit Flats site

COLOMBO: President Mahinda Rajapaksa yesterday laid the foundation stone for a new government housing complex consisting of 200 luxury houses and 1,200 middle level houses to be built on the seven hectare land in Colombo 7, where the present Summit Flats are situated under the 'Nila Sevana' housing program of the Public Administration and Home Affairs Ministry.

The new housing complex to be built on a proposal made by Public Administration and Home Affairs Minister Dr. Sarath Amunugama, will cater to the urgent housing needs of senior executives in the public sector and Ministers and MPs hailing from distant areas in the country.

A communique issued by the Public Administration and Home Affairs Ministry said that at present this seven hectare land called Summit Flats, had 104 flats and 20 odd bungalows which are inadequate, to cater to the needs of senior government servants and Parliamentarians considering the fact that almost all Ministries, departments and national level institutions are concentrated in and around the Colombo city.

Moreover the Summit Flats hurriedly built to cater to the Non Aligned Summit in 1976 and the other bungalows which are over 50 years old are in a dilapidated condition and the Ministry had to spend nearly Rs. 20 million annually for their maintenance.

Once the new houses are built present occupants in the Summit Flats would be shifted to them so that the dilapidated flats and bungalows could be demolished to make way for new flats replacing them.

The first stage of this housing complex comprising 100 housing units in a 14 storey building is estimated to cost Rs. 500 million, out of which Rs. 200 million will be set apart from the 2007 Budget.

The communique added that in order to realise the 'Janasevana' concept of Mahinda Chinthana aimed to provide every family in this country a house of its own the Ministry has also planned to build houses on selected government lands in urban areas with the help of foreign investors and sell them to government servants at concessionary prices without adding the price of land to the house value.

This programme would not only solve the burning housing problem of government servants, but also ensure a streamlined public service by ensuring punctuality of work at government departments and institutions, the communique added.