Only 51 % of tsunami housing completed

A new government report has slammed the pace of post-tsunami work saying only 51 percent of housing construction was completed even after more than two years since the December 2004 disaster.

The report titled “Tsunami Recovery: Progress, Challenges & Way Forward” by B. Abeygunewardane, Director General – Department of National Planning, Ministry of Finance and Planning, found that while the south had a high completion level at 89 percent the north was extremely low at 22 percent. Housing construction in the east was also low at 43 percent completion while 56 percent of the work was done in the west.

The report looked at progress in the four main recovery sectors – housing; livelihood; health, education and protection; and infrastructure. Under livelihoods, it said 70 percent of the fishing industry had been restored, 90 percent of the hotels were back to normal while 10,000 business enterprises had been restored. The report said some of the challenges and problems included rising construction costs, conflict impact on reconstruction and coordination.