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Path cleared for oil pipeline; squatters moved to new houses
View(s):Squatters who were occupying state land earmarked for an oil pipeline project have been moved to a new housing complex.
The new houses were handed over to them at a ceremony presided over by Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa this week.
For decades, the recipients of the new houses had been living in slums along the path of the old pipeline that carried crude oil from the Colombo port to oil tanks in Kolonnawa. Following protests against moves to evacuate them, Ceylon Petroleum Storage Terminals Ltd Chairman and Managing Director Mohamad Uwais proposed that a new housing scheme be built for them.
It costs the Ceylon Petroleum Storage Terminals Ltd. Rs. 500 million to build the residential complex comprising more than 100 houses.