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Samurdhi has not helped reduce poverty

Labour intense projects like Maga Neguma is important:

The World Bank will support well-planned capital intense infrastructure projects, in the country which are in the pipeline. These projects should definitely enhance rural development, World Bank Country Director for Sri Lanka Naoko Ishii said.

She said the country’s poverty alleviation programmes in the last decade have not helped to reduce poverty


World Bank Country Director Naoko Ishii. Picture by Wimal Karunatilake

and inequity despite a six per cent growth during the last many years.

Therefore, the World Bank will provide to projects that will be subject to monitoring and evaluation of the Bank, she said.

Sri Lanka has a tremendous potential to grow. However the problem is that all the development activities are confined mainly in the Western Province, Ishii told the weekly Colombo West Rotary meeting on Inequity, Poverty and Development’ yesterday.

She said that to accelerate economic growth in the country the Government should focus more on the high labour intense projects to enhance the market connectivity in the rural areas in the country.

“The Western Province recorded a six per cent growth for the last ten years but if that growth happened in other regions like in the Western Province Sri Lanka would have definitely eradicated poverty and inequity,” Ishii said.

She said the provinces like Uva and Sabaragamuwa visibly increased the poverty and inequity in the country and policy-makers should focus on the growth patterns to those regions as well.

Ishii said the World Bank is willing to support the Government’s ten-year development plan to improve the rural infrastructure in the country, help market accessibility to rural areas and also to bridge the inequity in the country.

The World Bank Country Director said that Western Province’s contribution to the country’s economy is 50 per cent and the rest of the economy is not growing to reduce the poverty in the country.

Sri Lanka has achieved a significant development in areas of education and health during the last few years, however there is a problem in the quality and distribution of these benefits to the rural areas, she said.

She said labour intense projects like Maga Neguma is one of the important projects, which will help the local community, to access the market.

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