PM pledges to develop North

Saturday, 17 August 2019 04:45 - - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}

Jaffna to be established as prominent city

Says steps must be taken to provide solutions to water issue

Calls for unity so SL can move forward with peace and prosperity

Says much development work already done in North

Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe yesterday said the Government will work to fix oversights in their policies and restore Jaffna to the status of a prominent city, and provide solutions to the water issues faced by the Northern Province.

Wrapping up his visit to the North on Friday, Wickremesinghe participated in a project evaluation meeting at the Jaffna Divisional Secretariat, where he discussed progress on various steps the Government had taken over the last four and a half years to promote development and reconciliation in the region, a statement from the Prime Minister’s Office said.

Speaking at the event, the Prime Minister had expressed pleasure at the progress of key policies by the Government, including releasing land held by the Armed Forces to their original owners.

He acknowledged that there were additional measures that needed to be taken and assured that attention would be directed on them.

“We know there is a huge water problem in the northern region, and we have to formulate a proper plan to tackle this issue. This is something that requires the attention of the Government. We have already started taking some steps to provide relief and will introduce new measures in the weeks and months ahead,” he said.

Wickremesinghe also noted that reconciliation remained an important point in the country and called for unity so that Sri Lanka could move forward in peace and prosperity.

The Prime Minister on Thursday said the United National Party (UNP) will always abide by the Constitutional Assembly proposals on power devolution and formulating national policy frameworks.

During his visit to Jaffna, Wickremesinghe emphasised that whether it is a majority community or minority, the UNP was dedicated to creating a country where everyone could live with pride and honour. He also said, as a policy, he accepted that the Tamil people should have the capacity to make decisions independently.

He also acknowledged that there were long-standing ethnic issues that still needed to be resolved in Sri Lanka, but pointed out that could only be done if there was a majority Government in place. Therefore, he requested assistance from the Tamil community to build a Government with majority seats in Parliament in order to find solutions to outstanding issues that concerned minorities, the statement released by the Prime Minister’s Office added.