Development FOCUS

Housing development

Ariya RUBASINGHE

The year 2005 was a very decisive year in Sri Lanka's history with Mahinda Rajapaksa being elected as President of Sri Lanka. President Rajapaksa in his Mahinda Chinthana programme promised to establish an honourable peace by defeating terrorism and launch a long term development drive

Api Wenuwen Api programme

This programme is to establish housing complexes for tri-service and Police personnel in selected locations. These housing complexes will have all facilities including schools, banks, departmental stores and other government offices. The first phase of the project was implemented with 1,509 housing units in the Ipalogama in the Anuradhapura district.

A housing complex of 25 houses was also constructed and handed over in Kandy district and another complex of 27 housing units were constructed and handed over in the Kurunegala district. Similar housing complexes will also be constructed in the Moneragala, Matara, Ratnapura and many other districts. The project is phased over five years, with 10,000 houses to be completed each year.

Tsunami housing - Eastern province

Three thousand houses for tsunami victims were constructed in the entire Eastern province. Of which one thousand houses were constructed in the Batticaloa district. The project was jointly funded by the Government and International Non-Government Organizations.

IDP housing in Kilinochchi

Eighteen thousand new housing units are constructed under various programmes to facilitate the resettlement process. Under this project each family is provided with a house valued at Rs 325,000. Sri Lanka Red Cross also provided 600 houses, meanwhile, the UN habitat programme agreed to repair 1,200 houses and construct 300 new items.

Janasetha programme

The government has launched this programme for officials to visit housing complexes, investigate about shortcomings and problems faced by the residents and provide instant solutions.

The programme is aimed at improving the common amenities provided at the government housing complexes.

Resettlement of displaced families

Fulfilling the promise given to the families who were living in the Upper Kotmale Hydro Power project area, the government had constructed 495 housing units with several rooms and other amenities, 33 shops, six workshops, six libraries, three kovils, and two churches in the Upper Kotmale Hills, giving a scenic beauty to the area.

For ages many of them were living in nine settlements in tin-roofed line rooms which had one verandah and a room with no separate kitchen or bathroom facility, forced to use one bathroom by several families. Seventy five percent of the people resettled in these new housing units are Tamils and the rest 22 percent are Sinhalese and three percent Muslims.

Jaffna housing schemes

Several housing schemes are being launched in the Jaffna district under the islandwide housing scheme project implemented by the National Housing Development Authority.

This include a new urban housing scheme in Jaffna, and to construct a new higher standard housing project to those who are abroad and wish to settle in Jaffna.

Reconstruct the Tharakulam housing project and to construct two more housing schemes in Gurunagar and Nawakkuli.

Expatriates and media personnel

Steps have been taken to construct 15,000 houses for Sri Lankans employed overseas as a part of the government's one million housing project programme - Janasevana. It has been announced that a certain percentage of the new houses coming under the Janasevana programme will be given to media personnel.

Housing development in Moneragala

The government has spent Rs 82.5 million for housing development in the Moneragala district. The targeted number of housing unit under this project is 825 houses.

Janasevana housing programme

This programme launched recently is aimed at construction of one million houses throughout the country, within six years. Another objective of this programme is to increase the contribution to the GDP by the construction sector from the current rate of eight percent to 12 percent.

Under this programme 65,000 flats will be constructed within the city of Colombo and shanty dwellers, who had been living in dwellings, most of them extremely crowded and unsuitable for human livelihood and who were left neglected for several decades by the politicians who only lured them for votes, will be housed in these flats. Thirty thousand housing units will be constructed for the estate sector employees taking a bold step to end the era of 'line houses'. Also, arrangements have been made to construct houses for those who are employed in the public and private sectors.

Courtesy: Media Centre for National Development