Govt. pledges Rs. 160-200b for development

Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe says his aim is to develop the country rapidly, and Rs. 160-200 billion will be allocated in the next two years to achieve this target.

The Prime Minister said the Government inherited a collapsed economy in 2015 and built it systematically, with various sacrifices, and that in continuing to take the country forward this way for another 3-4 years, the Government can extend immense benefits to the masses.

Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe made these disclosures speaking at a ceremony held at the Kelebokka Public Estate in Kandy to grant land title deeds to the estate workers of Panwila area of Kandy on 1 July.

Expressing his views, the Premier said a program was started to distribute land among people in the Kandy and Matale district and under this program each estate worker family will receive 7 perches of land.

“This is only a beginning. This is one of the biggest programs of the Government. We will give land rights to all the rural area people - Sinhala, Muslim or Tamil - without any racial bias. After giving land rights to people in the plantation areas, we will begin giving land to the people in the villages as well,” he said.

The Premier said the estate workers will not only receive a house, they will receive a complete village with all the facilities for the estate community to live and initiate their own avenues of income.

“As a country we have a long way to go. But we did everything according to a plan. We did not lie to the people of the country. People blamed us, criticised us but now the results are being realised,” he said.

He said the Government plans to spend about Rs. 160 billion to Rs. 200 billion through the “Gamperaliya” and “Enterprises Sri Lanka”, and “Swashakthi” programs, and the decentralised budget this year and next year for the development work.

“It is difficult to start these programs. That is why, during the first three years, we crawled amid the criticism from all sides, now we can deliver the results,” the Premier said. “If we continue these programs for another 3 to 4 years, we can give more relief to the people without any problems,” he said.

In addition, the Ministry of Education has implemented the program “Nearest School is the Best School” and expects to address all inadequacies and shortcomings in all schools in the next five years, the Prime Minister said. It will cost about Rs. 100 billion, he added.

He pointed out that in the health sector, the prices of medicines have been reduced drastically, and the Government is building new hospitals and upgrading old hospitals.

“We know that there are other problems in the country. We are well aware of transportation issues. But all of us need to work for the development of the country, instead of shouting bogus slogans claiming Sinhalese are in danger and need to be saved,” the Premier stressed.       

                                                          (ColomboPage)