Foundation for fourth Holcim Village laid in Galle

Saturday, 1 February 2014 00:00 - - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}

Holcim Lanka proudly launched its fourth Holcim Village in Akmeemana, Galle. By laying the foundation for this new Holcim Village, Holcim Lanka demonstrates its commitment towards its sustainable strategic development following its vision of focusing on triple bottom line of economic return, social responsibility and environmental protection. It follows up three previous projects carried out in Medirigiriya, Eluwankulama and Puttalam. The Holcim Villages is a major highlight of the Holcim Lanka CSR calendar and targets the fulfilment of community wellbeing by providing housing for low income and underprivileged families.

The Holcim Village in Galle specifically addresses the needs of the community surrounding Ruhunu Cement Works. In order to be able to serve the real needs of the community, Holcim follows the guidance and direction of the CAP. The CAP (Community Advisory Panel) regrouped Holcim key Community stakeholders, consisting of community Bodies and Government officials of the area, who are fully aware of the needs of the community. Through the CAP, Holcim Lanka hopes to make a long term impact on alleviating the living standards of the community. This project follows closely in alignment with other social upliftment projects carried out by Holcim Lanka.

Holcim Lanka has taken on the responsibility of facilitating design, construction and supervision of the Holcim Village initiative. The Rs.20 million project will house 13 homeless families upon completion in fully fledged housing units with electricity, water and access roads. In addition to empowering the community, Holcim Lanka has also been aware of the carbon footprint caused by the project and as such has ensured the practice of eco-friendly principles in the design architecture of the houses. The recipients of homes were selected by the Akmeemana Divisional Secretariat, considering the criteria of low

income, no ownership of property and families with more than three members, irrespective of ethnicity and religion. A dream, come true Dilaw Manjula a selected recipient stated, “Today is the luckiest day of my life. Everyone else who is selected to be this lucky also live like me and with no proper shelter. This is like a dream, come true. It is truly a dream and I am very thankful to Holcim and everyone who is helping for providing shelter for my family and me.” The Government provisioned land was identified and granted for the project under the direction of MP Dr. Ramesh Pathirana, who greatly assisted the project implementations. Holcim Lanka CEO Philippe Richart, Minister for Resettlement Gunarathne Weerakoon and Galle District MP Dr. Ramesh

Pathirana participated as distinguished guests at the foundation laying ceremony. Minister for resettlement Gunarathne Weerakon also shared his views at the event: “I am very proud to be a part of this Holcim initiative. Most companies do their CSR for promotional purposes. However Holcim has gone to great lengths to execute their commitment to the communities they operate in resulting in three other villages which I wasn’t aware of until this day. We have faced many problems over the years; in order to grow as a country we need partnerships like this where we leave race and religion aside and work together. Holcim has approximated the project to be completed in six months and to be of great contribution to the empowerment of the community.” Richart participating at the event, commented, “Holcim Lanka is actively seeking to uplift the lives of the community that surrounds us, as a responsible business and a sustainability conscious company of the country. Under our vision of sustainable development, we are committed to assisting in our capacity of private company meaningful projects to make contributions to the country development.”