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50,000 brick houses for North, East
The Government will construct 50,000 brick and mortar type houses in the Northern and Eastern Provinces under a new project.
“The prospective owners will decide the kind of housing they prefer. Tenders will be called for construction work that would accommodate local participation,” V. Sivagnanasothy, Secretary to the Ministry of National Integration and Reconciliation, told the Sunday Times. His Ministry will oversee the implementation.
The new move comes amid protests both by Tamil political parties and Northern residents over the construction of houses using prefabricated material. The French firm Arcelor-Mittal is building 6,000 of these houses at an estimated unit cost of Rs. 1.5 million. This project has been backed by Resettlement Minister D.M. Swaminathan. Earlier the company was to build 65,000 prefab houses.
The brick-and-mortar houses were the result of a recommendation to the Cabinet of Ministers by Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe. It was earlier approved by the Cabinet Committee on Economic Management (CCEM).
Mr. Sivagnanasothy said issues related to housing in the North were a priority issue since thousands were rendered homeless – the result of the separatist war. During a visit to the North, Premier Wickremesinghe said the people in the area had told him they preferred brick-and-mortar houses and not prefabricated ones.
The National Integration and Reconciliation Ministry Secretary said that lists of houses destroyed or damaged in the Northern and Eastern Provinces had been compiled by the Divisional Secretariats. He said the project would be helpful particularly to small and medium construction companies. Besides providing employment, it would also give them the experience to undertake other projects in the two regions.