Finance Minister reviews development projects in Northern Province

Finance and Mass Media Minister Mangala Samaraweera over the weekend met with officials of the Northern Provincial government in Jaffna to discuss the implementation of projects in the Northern Province as proposed in the 2018 Budget.

The Minister, accompanied by Central Bank Governor Dr. Indrajit Coomaraswamy and Finance Secretary Dr. R.H.S. Samaratunga, met with Northern Province Chief Minister C.V. Wigneswaran in Jaffna on Friday.

During the discussions, the officials considered possible projects to best use the Rs. 1 billion allocated for the five districts in the Northern Province. The district secretaries of five districts in the province also participated in the discussion.



Minister Samaraweera had explained that the Budget had also made provisions to help resettle former LTTE cadres, provide them with soft loans for businesses and provide help in livelihood opportunities. Chief Minister Wigneswaran had requested that the Government work with the Northern Provincial Council (NPC) when implementing these projects, the State-run Daily News said. 

Minister Samaraweera in response asked the Chief Minister to appoint a group from the NPC to implement these projects and link them with his ministry. The Minister also met with the Jaffna Chamber of Commerce and the business community at the Jaffna District Secretariat and discussed budget proposals for 50 producer co-operative industries as well as debt relief with co-operatives and women’s groups in Jaffna.

He also met with bank managers and finance companies to discuss issues pertaining to indebtedness, reiterating the responsibilities of financial institutions and the need to expand credit facilities to SMEs in the Northern Province through the ‘Enterprise Sri Lanka’ loan scheme.

The Minister met with women’s groups at the Pudukudiyiruppu Divisional Secretariat - one of the worst affected areas during the last stages of the war and last to be resettled with approximately 7,000 women-headed households in the area - to discuss their issues and the implementation of livelihood programs.