Biggest tsunami housing project in Colombo suspended

(October, 04, Colombo, Sri Lanka Guardian)The Sri Lanka Red Cross Society has announced the suspension of the ‘Kiriwattuduwa Housing Scheme’, the largest housing project proposed for those affected by the 2004 Tsunami, in the Colombo district.
The SLRCS chairman Jagath Abeysinghe said that the decision was taken after the government refused to provide land for the project

Among those affected by the tsunami in Colombo, 1,100 families are still living in welfare camps, he said.

Although the Red Cross Society has planned the project at a cost of Rs. 850 million, a case is pending before the Supreme Court regarding the land in Kiriwattuduwa, granted through a gazette extraordinary.

With this development, the SLRCS has now decided to suspend the project.

The government is similarly withholding land in Henamulla in Thotalanga and Mattakkuliya it had earlier released for tsunami housing projects.

Abeysinghe says his organization is facing extreme discomfort in the face of the international funding bodies three years into the tsunami devastation, due to the government providing unsettled land in this manner.