AMN/ WEB DESK
The ceremonial launch of construction of 1300 houses under Phase IV of Indian Housing Project was held in Colombo today. High Commissioner of India Santosh Jha joined President of Sri Lanka, Ranil Wickremesinghe in the virtual launch. The houses would be constructed in 45 plantation estates across 10 Districts of Sri Lanka. Government of India has committed to construct 10,000 houses for plantation workers who are Indian Origin Tamils under this Phase of IHP, which is spread across Sri Lanka’s six different Provinces.
The announcement of Phase – IV of IHP was made by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, during his visit to the plantation regions of Sri Lanka in 2017. Foundation stone for this Phase of IHP was laid virtually in November 2023 by Finance Minister Smt. Nirmala Sitharaman, along with President Ranil Wickremesinghe during her visit to Sri Lanka.
Government of India’s total commitment under the flagship IHP currently stands at 60,000 houses. In first two phases, 46,000 houses were covered in Northern and Eastern Provinces.
Indian origin Tamil community and plantation regions have been of specific focus under Government of India’s development cooperation partnership with Sri Lanka. The overall portfolio of grant projects alone stands at more than SLR 30 billion. In addition to 14,000 houses, another landmark project in the plantation region is the construction of a multi- specialty hospital in Dickoya. A multi – sectoral package of SLR 3 billion was announced by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in July 2023, during the visit of President Ranil Wickremesinghe to India, in order to mark 200 years of arrival of Indian origin Tamil community to Sri Lanka.