Joint Sri Lanka-India housing programme builds 100 model villages in the island
The Indian High Commission in Sri Lanka stated that the Gandhi Nagar – Model Village built with Indian assistance under the Model Villages Programme of Sri Lanka’s Ministry of Housing and Construction Cultural Affairs in Batticaloa District was inaugurated and the completed houses were handed over to the beneficiaries.
The High Commission issuing a statement noted that the village is the second of the 100 model villages being built with Indian Assistance and is named after Mahatma Gandhi, the highly respected world statesman and father of the nation in his 150th birth anniversary.
High Commissioner of India, Taranjit Singh Sandhu and Sri Lanka’s Minister of Housing and Construction and Cultural Affairs, Sajith Premadasa jointly inaugurated the village and handed over the houses.
Ameer Ali, Sri Lanka’s State Minister of Agriculture, Irrigation and Rural Economic Affairs, Seyed Ali Zahir Moulana, Member of the Sri Lankan Parliament, leaders from the Eastern Province, senior Government officials and a large number of people from the region had attended the ceremony.
The Government of India has partnered with Sri Lanka’s Ministry of Housing and Construction and Cultural Affairs to build 100 model villages consisting of a total of 2400 houses all across Sri Lanka under Indian grant assistance of Rs. 1,200 million, the statement noted.
These 2400 houses are in addition to the 60,000 houses built under the Indian Housing Project meant for war affected people in the North and East and the estate workers in the plantation areas.
According to the High Commission, India has undertaken more than 70 people-oriented development projects in various fields including health, education, housing, skill development, infrastructure, vocational training among others, all across the country.
The overall development portfolio of the Government of India in Sri Lanka is close to US$ 3 billion out of which US$ 560 million are in grants.
OSL take:
The housing programme jointly carried out by Sri Lanka and India is indicative of the strong bilateral relations between the two countries. India is one of Sri Lanka’s key development partners. The government of Sri Lanka is engaged in a development programme that has created many business/investment opportunities for foreign businesses while pushing the overall growth of the country’s key economic sectors.
| Article Code : | VBS/AT/06082019/Z_8 |