|
|
|
Monday, December 20, 2010 - 7.25 GMT |
|
No stop to new
housing in N&E - MED |
|
|
|
The Ministry of Economic Development states there is no stop or curtailment to any housing projects in the North and East.
It states as incorrect and misleading the lead report in the Sunday Times (Dec 19) that “construction of all new buildings in the North an East under donor-funded loan and grant projects coming up under the Ministry of Economic Development(MED) has been stopped from December 9.”
The MED states the instructions in the circular referred to in the news report were to give priority to reconstruction of damaged buildings in North and East in future projects over construction of new buildings. But on-going new building projects shall not be affected due to the above decision. The MED adds that, at present there are several hundreds of partly damaged buildings in North, and repair of these buildings is an urgent need to strengthen civil administration in North. But there were some instances where new building construction have been undertaken without giving preference to reconstruction of damaged buildings.
Here is text of the Media Release by the MED:
This statement has reference to the headline in today’s (2010.12.19) Sunday Times under the title “Basil stops donor funded new buildings in North and East”.
This statement is totally incorrect and misleading and will give entirely different message to international lending institutions such as the World Bank, ADB and JICA etc and conflict affected people in the North and East.
The circular issued by the Ministry has not given any reference to houses as there is no intention to stop or curtail any on-going or new housing projects in the north and east. Therefore, this does not apply to the on- going 50,000 housing project by government of Sri Lanka utilizing a loan provided by the World Bank, and the proposed housing project donated by Government of India which also consists of construction of 5000 new houses and repair of 45,000 houses.
Most of the rehabilitation and reconstruction projects in North and East are being implemented utilizing the loan funds made available to Government by lending organizations such as the World Bank, ADB and JICA and these are not donations and are required to be paid back with interest. Therefore, Government of Sri Lanka has to ensure this money is used more effectively for the benefit of the conflict affected population in Sri Lanka.
These loan funds are used to re-construct much needed infrastructure such as irrigation tanks including some major irrigation tanks as the Giants Tank, Akathimurruppu and Akkarayankulam , provincial and rural roads, power supply , water supply projects, reconstruction of damaged schools, hospitals, MPCS buildings, fertilizer and paddy stores and community level projects to promote agriculture, livestock, fisheries and cottage industries to support livelihoods.
At present there are several hundreds of partly damaged buildings in North and repair of these buildings is an urgent need to strengthen civil administration in North. But there were some instances where new building constructions have been undertaken without giving preference to reconstruction of damaged buildings. Therefore the circular instruction was to give priority to reconstruction of damaged buildings in the North and East in future projects over construction of new buildings. But on-going new building projects shall not be affected due to the above decision.
Professor Sunanda Madduma Bandara,
Director General, (Development and Communication)
Ministry of Economic Development.
December 19, 2010
|
| |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Contact Information:: Send
mail to