Press briefing of Cabinet Decision taken on 2018-02-27

Construction of 10,000 houses for the Plantation Community under the Grant Programme of the Indian Government

- The Government of India has already granted funds to construct 4,000 houses for the Plantation Community living in the Districts of Nuwara Eliya and Badulla and out of those, the construction work of 1,136 houses are nearing completion. The construction work of the rest of the 2,836 houses has commenced in the month of January, 2018. During the visit by the Indian Prime Minister to Sri Lanka in May, 2017, he has agreed to provide funds for the construction of 10,000 more houses for the Plantation Community.

In order to commence the implementation of the project, the identification of suitable lands for the purpose is expected to commence in March, 2018, giving priority to the families affected in the landslide disasters. As such, the proposal made by Hon. U. Palani Digambaram, the Minister of Hill Country New Villages, Infrastructure and Community Development, to sign a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the Government of India, to implement the project for the construction of 10,000 houses for the Plantation Community at a cost of Rs.10 Lakhs per house, was approved by the Cabinet.