Cabinet appoints ministerial committee for housing programmes

The Cabinet has approved the establishment of a ministerial committee to implement national housing programmes and spend over Rs.1 billion to repair 793 flood affected schools.  

The Cabinet has decided that all ministries, institutions, government and non-governmental organisations that contribute to develop houses throughout the island should work in an integrated manner under a common policy, Media Minister Keheliya Rambukwella told the Cabinet press briefing yesterday.

“At present there are several ministries inclusive of Ministries of housing, lands, provincial councils, defence, economic development and a host of other government agencies that are directly and indirectly contributing to construction of houses,” he said.

Therefore, in order to carry out an integrated implementation of the National housing programme under the Janasevana National Programme, on a proposal made by Minister Wimal Weerawansa Cabinet approval was granted to appoint an Inter-Ministerial Committee with the relevant senior ministers of the cabinet as permanent members and with the participation of representatives of relevant ministries.

Meanwhile 793 schools inclusive of 42 National Schools have been affected by the recent torrential rain, floods and earth slips that affected many parts of the country. The most affected area is the Eastern Province where 586 schools have been affected.

The Cabinet on a proposal made by Minister of Education Bandula Gunawardena decided to allocate Rs. 1029 million to rehabilitate these affected schools in the Central, Uva, North Central, Eastern and Southern Provinces.

The Cabinet also decided that rehabilitation work should be carried out immediately and a part of Rs. 33 billion previously allocated for the rehabilitation of properties damaged by the recent disaster will be made available for the purpose.