Sri Lankan government has spent more on North-East development than on war, Minister says

The Sri Lankan government has spent a colossal amount of money on the rehabilitation of the war-battered North and East than the expenditure incurred on the war, a government minister said.



During the debate on the budget 2010 in the parliament yesterday, Minister for Construction and Engineering Services, Rajitha Senaratne said the North and the East are being directed to a new development era with Nagenahira Navodaya (Eastern Awakening) and Uthuru Wasanthaya (Northern Spring) programs.
The Minister revealed that in the North Tamil Tigers have mined 1,474 square kilometers covering 640 villages with over 1.5 million landmines.
The government has purchased demining equipment including 10 automatic demining machines worth over 500 million rupees from Croatia and Slovakia with the money from the Treasury to expedite the resettlement of the displaced people, the Minister reminded.
The Minister told the House that there are only about 25,000 displaced civilians are remaining in the camps and they too would be resettled soon.