Colombo, Oct 26 (PTI) Sri Lanka and India today signedtwo agreements for construction of 1,200 houses through 50model villages in the island nation, using Indian grantassistance of 600 million rupees.
Two Memorandum of Understanding (MoUs) were signed byIndian High Commissioner Taranjit Singh Sandhu and Secretaryto the Ministry of Housing and Construction W K K Athukoralain Hambantota, the ColomboPage reported.
"Till now the Indian housing grants in Sri Lanka werelimited to north and east and tea plantation area. Now theyhave extended assistance to provide housing in the southerndistrict too," said Housing Minister Sajith Premadasa, who waspresent on the occasion.
India in 2012 began its north eastern project to build50,000 houses which was later extended to cover the teaplantation areas in the central district.
In a statement, the Indian High Commission said 1,200houses will be constructed using the successful owner drivenmodel with Indian grant assistance.
Of these, 600 houses will be constructed in the SouthernProvince, while the remaining will be constructed across SriLanka - one model village in each of the 25 districts.
The project will target low income landless and homelessbeneficiaries. A cash grant of five lakh Lankan rupees will beprovided to each beneficiary in five instalments, linked tothe stages of construction of the house.
These projects are in continuation of Government ofIndia's commitment to assist the Government of Sri Lanka inthe development of housing infrastructure, it said.
India had committed 50,000 houses for the IDPs in theNorth and East and out of which nearly 46,000 houses have beencompleted. Construction of 4,000 houses are currently underwayin the plantation sector in Central and Uva Provinces.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi had committed another 10,000houses for beneficiaries in the plantation sector in May. PTICORRZH.
This is unedited, unformatted feed from the Press Trust of India wire.