As per the instructions of President Gotabhaya Rajapaksa and Minister of Urban Development and Housing Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa, 5000 housing units are to be constructed for middle-income families under President’s National Policy Framework, “Vistas of Prosperity and Splendour” the ‘Vision of Prosperity’.
The first phase of constructing 3000 out of 5000 housing units commenced at Orugodawatta yesterday (4).
Construction of 3000 housing units is in operation and it will be vested to the public within a year.
Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa has instructed the Urban Development Authority to construct these houses in a more attractive manner in accordance with the required standards.
In addition, the Prime Minister instructed the Urban Development Authority to identify the needs of the homeless middle-class families and construct these houses to suit their needs. All the construction work will be overseen by the Urban Development Authority.
The construction work of these houses commenced yesterday (04) under the patronage of State Minister of Urban Development, Coast Conservation, Waste Disposal and Public Sanitation Dr Nalaka Godahewa, Political Representatives of Colombo North, Secretary to the Ministry of Urban Development and Housing Sirinimal Perera.
State Minister Dr Nalaka Godahewa stated that the Urban Development Authority will commence the construction of 3,000 housing units within two weeks.
“Houses for middle-income families which was started by President Gotabaya Rajapaksa when he was the secretary to the Ministry of Urban Development is a huge project. There are about 60,000 shanty dwellers in the Colombo city limits. A separate programme and a plan were initiated for that. But the government was overthrown when about 18,000 shanty dwellers were planned to be relocated to other places, directed to their former lands for business activities and to earn money and provide houses to the rest. Not only in Colombo but also around Colombo such as Gampaha and Kalutara, there are a large number of poor shanty dwellers. We need to overcome the challenge in Colombo and then move to the others” He said.
He also added that another project has been initiated to provide houses at a reasonable price to young families and professionals of middle-income families.
Secretary to the Ministry of Urban Development and Housing Sirinimal Perera said that the construction of these 3,000 houses could be completed within a year and that the relevant local contractors should take the necessary steps to construct these houses and hand them over to the public within the relevant year.