The target date for completion of post-tsunami housing projects and resolving of issues relating to housing has been further extended, Nation Building and Estate Infrastructure Development Ministry Additional Secretary R. Tharmakulasingham, told The Sunday Times.
He said that following a meeting at the Presidential Secretariat on Thursday it has been decided to declare March, 2009 as the target date to complete most of the unfinished projects.
According to the 2005 revised figure 117,378 houses were partly or fully damaged, due to the tsunami disaster, in 14 districts.
Ampara district was the worst hit with more than 27,000 houses damaged while 23,476 houses were damaged in Batticaloa district and more than 14,000 houses damaged in Galle district.
The post-tsunami construction work was determined in two ways - one donor-driven or owner-driven. The donor-driven was fully sponsored by the donors and the owner-driven where the owners of the houses were given Rs. 250,000 in four instalments to re-build their houses.
According to Mr. Tharmakulasingham 3,100 dwellings are being constructed with donors’ funds are still incomplete while 5,000 houses being built by their owners are yet to be completed.
The majority of incomplete houses are in the Ampara district and in uncleared areas in the Northern province, especially in Mullaitivu and Jaffna districts.
“The 65 metre buffer zone and the reluctance of some displaced people to settle in areas provided by the Government were some major issues. In Jaffna district transporting materials, especially cement, present the greatest obstacle. In Ampara district there is a land problem as the people had been settled on land between the sea and the lagoon and filling is taking place,” he said adding that re-location would take place by March next year.
In Colombo district, around 2600 families who were victims in Moratuwa and Ratmalana still live in temporary shelters.
He said that the State Engineering Corporation, the State Development and Construction Corporation, the Central Engineering and Construction Bureau and the Land Reclamation Board are still progressing with their housing and land development programmes.
“Due to the military operations in the Eastern province at that time, we could not implement the housing projects in that area as we could not transport materials and were unable to mobilize workers, therefore greater preference is now being given to the Eastern province,’’ he said.
He said that independent audits requested by INGOs revealed a number of discrepancies in the implementation of development projects. “Some local authorities have failed to choose the ideal beneficiaries for providing assistance. Even the State banks have made payments to the wrong persons while some local authorities had failed to maintain a proper list of persons who had received assistance,” he said.
Mr. Tharmakulasingham said that most of the people who were affected by the tsunami were not familiar with banking procedures and were thus not able to obtain assistance.
Meanwhile following the tsunami disaster the Southern province saw rapid development and according to statistics recorded 113 percent development. “As the implementing agency we have declared that the Southern province tsunami housing projects have been completed,” he said.
In Hambantota district while the need for houses was around 3000, nearly double that number has been built, Mr. Tharmakulasingham said. | 
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