President Mahinda Rajapksa yesterday handed over Ranajayapura mega housing scheme to war heroes. At a ceremony held at Ipalogma, the President handed over keys of 100 houses to their owners.

Ranajayapura is a concept made a reality under the Mahinda Chintana programme, the President's vision for the country's future. The housing scheme at Ipalogama marks the completion of the first phase of the project aimed at building 50,000 houses for war heroes. Ranajayapura is the largest ever housing project built for the war heroes consisting 1509 completed houses with all modern amenities.

The project was planned and implemented by the Ministry of Defence under the leadership of Defence Secretary Gotabaya Rajapaksa.

The cost of each three roomed house with bathroom and a pantry and a ten perch land was Rs. 1.4 million. The government has borne Rs. 600,000 of the total cost and the remaining Rs. 800,000 was given as interest free loans to the recipients which are expected to be recovered within ten to fifteen years.

Also, the housing scheme is provided with a Super Market, a Bank of Ceylon branch, a primary school, a daycare unit and a well equipped hospital

The Foundation stone was laid for the project on 14 December 2006. The Sri Lanka Navy engineers accomplished the task of completing 1509 houses within 15 months.