High Commissioner of India Mr. Gopal Baglay and Secretary, State Ministry of Rural Housing and Construction & Building Materials Industries Promotion of Sri Lanka Mr. Keerthi Ranjith Abesiriwardhana signed four MoUs towards streamlining the implementation mechanisms of ongoing Model Village and three Gram Shakti Housing Projects on 18 December 2020 in the presence of Hon’ble State Minister Indika Anuruddha, High Commission of India in Colombo said in a press release.
These MoUs would pave the way for releasing instalment for the houses as advance payment enabling quicker implementation of the projects.
2400 houses for homeless, low income families across the island are being constructed under the four housing programmes at a total cost of SLR 1.2 billion. 600 houses under the Model Village Housing Project are evenly spread across the 25 Districts of Sri Lanka. 1200 houses are being built under two Gram Shakti Housing Projects in the Southern Province and an additional 600 houses are being built in the Northern Province under the Gram Shakti Housing Project. 96 houses have already been completed under the four programmes. All these projects are being executed through National Housing Development Authority, Government of Sri Lanka.
The above four housing schemes are in addition to Government of India’s flagship Indian Housing Programme under which close to 50,000 houses have already been constructed. Construction of another 10,000 houses is also being undertaken in plantation areas of Sri Lanka.
Housing projects across the island are aligned with people-oriented, community-driven developmental assistance programmes by Government of India in Sri Lanka. India’s overall commitment of development assistance in the island nation stands at a total of around US$ 3.5 billion. Out of this, close to US$ 560 million are being offered as grants. India’s development assistance projects in Sri Lanka are spread across diverse sectors viz. Education, Research & Training; Health & Medical Care; Industrial Development; Livelihood & Shelter; Transport; Vocational Training and Art, Sports & Culture.