144 transit houses to be built in Mannar under Rs. 300 m Indian grant

The contract for construction of transit housing units in Mannar was awarded to M/s R.A. Constructions at High Commission of India on Tuesday, the Indian High Commission said in a statement yesterday.

The agreement was signed between M/S R.A. Constructions and High Commission of India Development Cooperation Counsellor Banu Prakash, while Deputy High Commissioner of India Vinod K. Jacob and Ministry of Tourism Secretary S. Hettiarachchi witnessed the ceremony.

The project envisages construction of 144 transit housing units in Mannar as identified by Government of Sri Lanka under an Indian grant assistance of Rs. 300 million.

Government of India has been implementing several projects in the field of Housing islandwide, deepening India-Sri Lanka cooperation in the livelihood development. India’s flagship Housing Project envisaging construction of 50,000 houses in Sri Lanka at an overall outlay of Rs. 33 billion under full grant basis is almost complete. 

Agreement for construction of an additional 10,000 houses in the plantation areas at an outlay of Rs. 11 billion on grant basis was signed in August 2018. This makes the total number of houses being built under the Indian Housing Project as 60,000. In addition, close to 3,000 houses are being built under the Model villages housing program in all districts of Sri Lanka, taking the total number of houses being built by India in Sri Lanka to 63,000.

These projects are in continuation of Government of India’s people-oriented development cooperation with Government of Sri Lanka. India’s overall development portfolio in Sri Lanka currently stands at close to Rs. 517 billion out of which Rs. 92 billion is grant assistance and more than Rs. 425 billion under Lines of Credit and Buyer’s Credit.