Colombo, October 28 (newsin.asia): India and Sri Lanka have signed two Memoranda of Understanding (MoU) for constructing of 1,200 houses through 50 model villages, using Indian grant assistance of SLR 600 million (US$ 3.9 million).
The MoUs were signed by Taranjit Singh Sandhu, High Commissioner of India to Sri Lanka, and W.K.K. Athukorala, Secretary to the Ministry of Housing and Construction, in the presence of Sajith Premadasa, Minister of Housing and Construction during a special ceremony in Hambantota to hand over Santhosagama model village completed under the Gram Shakti Model Village Housing Project to people. The Indian High Commissioner participated as a Special Guest.
The 1200 houses will be constructed using the successful owner driven model with Indian grant assistance. Of these, 600 houses will be constructed in the Southern Province, while the remaining will be constructed across Sri Lanka, one model village in each of the 25 districts. The project will target low income landless and homeless beneficiaries. A cash grant of SLR 500,000 will be provided to each beneficiary in five installments, at different stages of construction.
These projects are being carried out in keeping with the Government of India’s commitment to assisting the government of Sri Lanka in developing housing infrastructure. The government of India made a pledge to build 50,000 houses for the IDPs in the North and East and, out of them nearly 46,000 have been completed. The construction of 4,000 houses is currently underway in the plantation sector in Central and Uva Provinces. Prime Minister of India Shri Narendra Modi pledged to build another 10,000 houses for beneficiaries in the plantation sector in May 2017.
(The featured image at the top shows Indian High Commissioner Taranjit Singh Sandhu and the Sri Lankan Minister of Housing and Construction Sajith Permadasa at the ceremony to sign an MoU for house construction in model villages)
