Restoring tanks reawakens agro sector

Monday, 17 December 2012 00:01 - - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}

Economic Development Minister Basil Rajapaksa has attributed Sri Lanka’s rapid development to direct Government participation in expediting public welfare measures. He told this to a visiting UN team and a group of intellectuals from New York City when he met them at the Parliamentary complex.

Minister Basil Rajapaksa explained to them the steps the Government has taken to create a suitable environment for resettling people in the north and east after demining the former terrorist-infested areas. Around 300,000 displaced persons were resettled in their villages and towns in accordance with international standards within a short period of two years, he further said.

The Minister appreciated the assistance countries like India, Australia, China and Japan gave to Sri Lanka in the resettlement work. Assistance was also given by international NGOs and other organisations, the Minister said. It had helped the Government in developing the infrastructure of these areas to provide the resettled people with education, drinking water, electrical power, agricultural needs, health facilities and livelihood.

He added that the building of an efficient road network including expressways helped to provide such facilities island-wide by raising production levels and creating new economic opportunities for the people.

With the international assistance, the Government has been able to build railway linking north and south and the construction of expressways. Aid in this connection has been given by countries such as India, China and Japan. The restoration of reservoirs, tanks and bunds has boosted agricultural development, according to the Economic Development Minister Basil Rajapaksa.

All this has also helped the rapid expansion of the tourism industry which has attracted an increasing number of foreign tourists to the north and east, coastal areas and the interior of the country. The Government is also in the process of rebuilding areas of the north and east destroyed by the terrorists, he emphasised.

Sri Lanka’s Permanent Representative to the UN Palitha Kohona, Bangladesh Government’s Permanent Representative Abdul Momen, Nigeria’s Permanent Representative Usman Sarki, Rumania’s Permanent Representative Srivotha Mirela, Japanese Ambassador in Sri Lanka Nobuhito Hobo, Brazilian Ambassador Juha Marsalo and South African High Commissioner Geoffrey Doidge were among those who participated in the meeting.