Rs 450 m for drinking water project

Ishara MUDUGAMUWA

The government has allocated Rs 450 million for the second stage of the Batticaloa district drinking water project, said Deputy Resettlement Minister Vinayagamoorthy Muralitharan.

He said so after discussions with Child Development and Women's Affairs Deputy Minister M L A M Hizbullah at the Child Development and Women's Affairs Ministry on Thursday to select deserving areas for the project.

More than 15,000 families in Vavunativu, Mangikkattu, Eachanthivu, Kungamunai and Kannankudha areas will be benefited from this project which will be completed in six months, the minister said.

He also said that the first stage of the Batticaloa water project was started to solve the drinking water problem of the people of Mandanthadi, Kanthankudi, Ariyanpathi, Eravur and Palamunai areas in the Batticaloa District with financial assistance from the Asian Development Bank. More than 9,000 million rupees has been spent for this and 90 percent of the project has been completed.

It will be fully completed by August this year.

"All areas in Batticaloa district will not be covered by this project. We have requested from the government to provide funds to solve the drinking water problem in other areas of Batticaloa district as well," he said.