Indian Cabinet plans to construct houses for displaced Tamils in Sri Lanka

30 November 2011: The Cabinet of India is to consider soon the central government's proposal to build 50,000 houses for the displaced Tamils in Sri Lanka's conflict-affected Northern Province. Indian government has made a commitment to construct 50,000 houses in Sri Lanka for rehabilitation of the IDPs during the state visit of Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa to India in June 2010. According to the Indian government's proposal, 41,000 units would be constructed anew in Northern, Eastern and Central Provinces of Sri Lanka. The remaining 9,000 units would be repaired.

Three state-run companies - Hindustan Prefab Ltd, Hindustan Steelworks Construction and National Building Constructions Corporation - are entrusted with the construction at a cost of US$ 230 million (approx Rs 1,200 crore ). Under an agreement signed in 2010, the Hindustan Prefab Limited (HPL) under the administrative control of Government of India will build 1,000 houses as a pilot project. Under the Pilot Project, each house consists of 540 square feet of area and will be constructed with locally available material. HPL would be the Project Monitoring Consultant.

Source: Colombopage