Sri Lanka launches ambitious housing project to build one million houses

Pursuing another promise in the Mahinda Chintanaya policy statement to provide a home for every homeless family, the Sri Lankan government today launched an ambitious project to build one million houses within the next five years.


Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa at an auspicious hour today laid the foundation stone for the Janasevana Housing Project at Kirulapana with the participation of the Construction, Engineering Services, Housing, and Common Amenities Minister Wimal Weerawansa.


Under the Jana Sevena National Housing and Habitat Development programme, one million houses will be constructed throughout the Island. Phase one of the project comprising 560 houses at Mihindupura in Kirulapana is to be completed within two years.
Speaking at the opening ceremony, President Rajapaksa said the policy of the government is to uplift each individual to form the family and thereafter to build the village and to construct the country.
The government has never ignored the needs of the people and it would do everything in its power to build a strong nation, he asserted.
The housing project is aimed at providing decent houses in a more appropriate environment for the people living in shanties, the President explained.
The Jana Sevena housing projects will be carried out in a new format providing houses to the poor as well as to the middle class families.
Minister Wimal Weerawansa said people must be settled in proper houses in order to carry forward a programme of creating a society conducive for the development process.
Ministers Dinesh Gunawardana, Basil Rajapaksa, Geethanjana Gunawardana, Lasantha Alagiyawanna, Secretary to the President Lalith Weeratunga, Defense Secretary Gotabhaya Rajapaksa and several senior officials were present at the occasion.
(Pictures by Nalin Hewapathirana)