Socio-economic development:

‘Govt utilizes foreign assistance productively’

Construction, Engineering Services, Housing and Common amenities Minister Wimal Werawansa yesterday said the government has been successful in mobilizing and utilizing substantial volumes of foreign assistance towards the public investment strategy and socio-economic development in the country.

The minister was speaking at the first meeting of Regional Slum Upgrading Working Group in Teheran.

He said Sri Lanka wishes to harness international cooperation and assistance for the achievements of its priorities.

“Mobilization of housing finance, international development, basic infrastructure provision, development of monitoring mechanisms, human resources development, strengthening of community based organizations(CBOs) are some important areas identified for international corporation”, he said.

Weerawansa said urbanization is not synonymous with human progress and urban slum growth is outpacing urban growth by a wide margin. “Approximately half of the world’s population live in cities and towns. One out of three urban dwellers, approximately 1 billion people are living in under-served settlements” ‘ he said.

The minister said 800 million children go to sleep without dinner in the world and the majority of these children live in urban and semi-urban under-served settlements.

“Cramp cities are a product of urban-rural disparity which leads to migration of people from rural areas to cities for economic reasons. Urban based and trade dependent economic policies promoted by international lending agencies have created this situation in most countries”, he said.

The minister said the situation is aggravated by internal conflict and wars.

“The efforts of the world community in solving the problem of cramped cities have not been successful.

“Yet the Western world is spending trillions of dollars in wars waged against these communities”.

Weerawansa said Sri Lanka has taken positive steps to change this scenario. After the dawn of peace, the government is spearheading a massive development programme throughout the country under the Mahinda Chinthana as the pathway to create a conducive climate for ethnic harmony, he said.

Minister Weerawansa educated the participants on the programmes launched by the government to ensure quality houses for every family.

He said the Janasevena housing programme is aimed at solving the housing issues of low income groups.