Sri Lanka needs six months to resettle remaining IDPs

Sri Lanka needs at least six months to resettle the remaining Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs), a government minister has said. "We will need at least six months to fully complete the resettlement process," Sri Lanka's Resettlement Minister Gunaratne Weerakoon has told media.
The Minister has said that the government has started construction of permanent houses for some 1,700 families living in the Manik Farm camp in Vavuniya in the north. "Last month we completed 206 houses and we have begun constructing another 200 houses and that should be completed in three months," the Minister has said. The Sri Lankan Army is assisting the government in constructions of the houses in areas cleared by the demining process. The Sri Lankan government says it has spent US$ 360 million to resettle the 98 percent of the 290,000 internally displaced persons (IDPs) housed in welfare centers at the end of May 2009 when the 30-year armed conflict against the Tamil Tiger terrorists in the North and East came to an end. In addition to the government's spending, UN agencies and other donor partners have provided assistance regularly to complement the government's efforts. The government provides dry rations worth Rs. 3,500 per month for a period of six months to families resettled until they find livelihood assistance in addition to an initial payment of Rs 25,000 at the time of resettlement.