President vows to provide vaccines to 13 million by September

President Gotabaya Rajapaksa today vowed to vaccinate as many as 13 million person against COVID 19 by September this year and to ahead with a multitude of development plans including construction of high ways, housing schemes, water projects  and irrigation schemes.

President Rajapaksa in an address to the nation covered a range of issues including the plans to ban chemical fertilizer and convert to Organic farming adding that there was a high demand for crops cultivated organically.

He said there were some persons who previously supported him, but were now going on to criticize his government as their personal requests had not been fulfilled. He said, however, the majority had not sought personal favours.

Commenting on the COVID-19 pandemic said it is the most serious challenge at this juncture not only to Sri Lanka but to other countries as well.

He said so far, the country has  received 1,264,000 doses of AstraZeneca vaccine, 3.1 million Sinopharm vaccine doses, and 130,000 doses of Sputnik V vaccine.Altogether, we have received a total of 4,494,000 vaccine doses.

“In July, 4 million doses of Sinopharm vaccine and 2.5 million doses of Sinovac are expected to be received. Arrangements have also been made to obtain 2 million Sputnik V doses. In addition, 5 million doses of Sinopharm vaccine, 2.5 million doses of Sinovac and 2 million doses of Sputnik V are expected in August. By getting down 3 million more Sinopharm vaccine doses in September, we could vaccinate 13 million people by the end of September this year. Accordingly, we can vaccinate almost everyone over the age of 30 by that time.”

He also said;

“Our intelligence services were weakened due to many ill-advised decisions taken by the previous government. Our security forces were challenged and discredited internationally. Our places of worship were forcibly occupied. Archaeological sites were destroyed out in the open. The terrorism, which we ended in 2009, had re-emerged in a more dangerous form.

By 2019, the country’s economic growth rate slowed down to 2.1%. The debts of the country had increased to Rs. 13,000 billion from Rs. 7,400 billion. The tax burden on the people had doubled. The rupee destabilised and the prices of commodities skyrocketed. Export earnings had declined and foreign reserves had depleted.

I acquired an economy that was in ruins. However, we understood that reality well and accepted that responsibility with a plan.

However, the global coronavirus pandemic, which unexpectedly devastated not only our country but also the entire world, created an environment in which those plans could not be implemented as we had expected.

We did not receive the amount of foreign exchange we had originally planned. We have to manage foreign exchange more carefully in such a situation.

When the expenditure on support measures relating to the COVID-19 crisis is added to the planned subsidies, it is about half of the country’s total government revenue of 1,380 billion rupees last year.

Thus, despite the dire situation caused by the coronavirus pandemic, the government has never taken actions to reduce the salaries or allowances of more than 1.4 million public servants.

There has been a debate in our country on this issue over decades. The use of chemical fertilizers introduced to this country about 45 years ago has become a major social threat to our country.

The widespread use of these chemicals has contaminated the soil and the water, and many experts believe that it has directly led to the increase in cancer and kidney diseases. The harm caused to human life by the use of chemical fertilizers must be identified and remedied.

With this policy decision, a large number of entrepreneurs and companies have come forward to produce organic fertilizer in the country.

The housing development is another area that my government has paid special attention to.

Over the next four years, we hope to construct 300,000 houses through projects implemented jointly by the government and the public and private sectors.

Meanwhile, 60,000 urban houses and 200,000 rural houses will be constructed. Our plan also includes 40,000 estate houses and rental houses.

More than 20,000 of these houses are under construction. Another 10,000 will be constructed before the end of this year.

Under the previous government, only 450 flat units were constructed for the benefit of low-income families. Nevertheless, at present, we are building around 7,000 flat units for low-income earners.

Construction works have commenced building 3,000 flat units for middle-income earners.

Under the ‘One house per one village’ programme, 14,000 rural houses are being constructed.

As another step towards eradicating poverty among the rural population, the programme to provide cultivable lands to landless families is progressing very successfully. So far more than 20,000 families have been given an acre plot of land.

Completion of the expressway system planned during the Mahinda Rajapaksa era is a vital investment for the future development of our country. Therefore, we have revived this programme which was slow during the previous administration. The Mirigama-Kurunegala section of the Central Expressway is currently under construction. It is expected to be completed in about three months. The Kadawatha-Mirigama section, which is about 15 km long, will be completed by the end of 2023. The Dambulla- Kurunegala section will also commence soon. An important section of the road to Kandy, from Pothuhera to Galagedara has now commenced and will be completed by 2023. Accordingly, people will have the opportunity to travel from Colombo to Kandy on the Central Expressway by 2024.

The construction of the expressway from the Kelani Bridge to Athurugiriya via Rajagiriya on concrete pillars and the expressway from the Kelani Bridge to the Port City has been commenced. They will conclude by 2023.

The new Kelani Bridge with six lanes and its affiliated junction is expected to open this year.

Full speech: https://www.pmdnews.lk/president-gotabaya-rajapaksas-special-address-to-the-nation/