A Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) has been signed between the Hindustan Prefab Limited (HPL) under the administrative control of Government of India, Ministry of Housing and Urban Poverty Alleviation and Ministry of External Affairs, a press release issued by the High Commission of India in Colombo said.

The MoU was signed by Mr. T.S. Tirumurti, Joint Secretary (BSM) on behalf of Ministry of External Affairs and Mr. Jaiveer Srivastavaa, Chairman and Managing Director, HPL on November 16 at the Ministry of External Affairs, New Delhi.

The press statement said the MoU follows a commitment by the Indian government to construct 50,000 houses in Sri Lanka for rehabilitation of the IDPs during the state visit of Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa to India in June 2010.

Under the Pilot Project, each house consists of 540 sq.ft. area and will be constructed with locally available material. HPL would be the Project Monitoring Consultant, the High Commission said.