Jaffna to get international sports stadium

Lakshmi de Silva

Several steps were taken recently to stabilise the living standards and income of the Northern people under the Uthuru Vasanthaya rehabilitation program headed by Senior Presidential Advisor and Parliamentarian Basil Rajapaksa who visited Jaffna last week to inspect the projects in progress, official sources in Jaffna told the Daily News yesterday.

The Alfred Duraiappah Stadium in Jaffna will be converted to an international sports stadium with Indian government funding and the matter was discussed at a meeting with Sports Ministry officials, they said.

Since the ban on fishing was lifted the Jaffna fishermen are now engaged in their occupation daily and are bringing in a good catch.

Five freezer trucks have been given clearance by the Defence Ministry to transport fish on the A9 road to Colombo. The trucks bring back ice for the use of fishermen on the return journey.

There were fifteen such trucks and daily five of them bring fish to Colombo, they said.

Basil Rajapaksa MP during his last week's visit accompanied by the Social Services Minister Douglas Devananda and Northern Province Governor Maj Gen (retd) G.A.Chandrasiri inspected the Karaveddy water supply scheme which was not functioning for several years and directed the officials to start repairs to rehabilitate it. The Asian Development Bank had agreed to finance the rehabilitation of the Karaveddy water supply project at a cost of Rs. 25 million, official sources said.

He also spoke to the residents of the North and directed that some of the road blocks should be removed so that the free movement of traffic and pedestrians could help the people of the North to lead their normal lives without problems.