Indian funded housing projects begin from Vavuniya

Chaminda PERERA in Vavuniya

The Indian funded project to construct 50,000 houses for the displaced in the northern province will start within the next two weeks from the Vavuniya district.

Work on 200 houses will start in four Divisional Secretariats within a fortnight as a pilot project. It includes the construction of 1,000 houses in the province. A Divisional Secretariat will get 50 cluster houses.

Local manpower will be fully utilized for this project which is supervised by the Vavuniya District Secretariat. Vavuniya District Secretary P S M Charles said technical assistance for the project is also provided by the Vavuniya District Secretariat.

Charles said manpower in the area will be utilized for the project which would generate an additional income to the people in the district.

She said the project would provide livelihood support to the people, particularly the youth.

The District Secretary's announcement came two weeks after Indian Foreign Secretary Nirupama Rao's visit to observe resettlement activities in the northern province.

The Vavuniya District Secretary said the Indian Government will assist repairs of 10,000 partially damaged houses in the province. Around 1,250 houses have been identified for repairs. This project is to be completed in a year. Each family needing their houses repaired, will get Rs 200,000.

The District Secretariat has identified families that need financial assistance and the cost of repair for each house has been estimated by the district Secretariat.

Charles said there are houses in every Divisional Secretariat Division without roofs and doors and they can be repaired for less than Rs 200,000. He said there are some houses with damages to the structure and these houses cannot be repaired under this scheme as the repairing cost is high. "We will release funds to such houses too if the owner is willing to complete repairs at his own expense," she added.

This project will be closely monitored by the three committees at Divisional Secretariat, District Secretariat and Provincial level on behalf of the Government.

An Indian team is expected to monitor the project activities and their report will be submitted to New Delhi.

All paper work have now been completed and the dossier containing the details of the houses and their estimates have been forwarded to the Governor's office, he added.