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| Sunday, 25 May 2003 |
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Floods wreck infrastructure facilities Incessant floods and earthslips have caused havoc in a number of districts in the Western, Sabaragamuwa and Southern Provinces, while their devastative effects on the economy are yet to be determined. Authorities and economic experts are still busy calculating the damage caused by floods and the resulting disasters which left thousands homeless and damaged public and private properties apart from claiming hundreds of lives. However, officials point out that the destruction caused to infrastructure facilities is ranked high with the road network, electricity and telecommunication facilities being most affected. Sources said it was difficult at this time to appraise the damage caused to the infrastructure sector as water is still receding in major towns in the Southern Province. "Steps are being taken to restore those facilities in possible areas and the damage is yet to be ascertained. Priority is given to bringing back normalcy to the lives of those affected." Mr Padmaperuma, General Manager (Maintenance) Sri Lanka Telecom assured that all telephone lines will be restored by June 10, but it will take around three months to establish a high quality network in the flood-affected areas. He said that since most areas are still under water, restoring the telephone lines would be rather difficult and as people are affected, teams would have to be sent from Colombo for repairs. "It will take some time to assess the monetary value of the damage which I think is fairly high," said Padmaperuma. A spokesman for the Ceylon Electricity Board said that they are doing restoration facilities on a provincial level. "As electricity is an essential service, we cannot wait until the economic damage is assessed to do the restoration facilities, but we will have to spend a lot of money to fully restore the supply," he added. An insurance expert said: "There will be a large number of small claims. There will be claims from traders, houses, factories including tea factories and vehicles". Many factories in the Southern and Sabaragamuwa Provinces have been damaged, rendering thousands unemployed and damaging machinery, thus pushing back the industrial growth of the country. Chairman Ceylon National Chamber of Industries Ranjith Hettiarachchy said: "Almost all factories in these areas have been affected. Therefore, it is necessary to salvage them quickly to move the economy forward. It is also necessary to identify priority areas, set targets and work on schedule to achieve these targets. This is a must to revive public infrastructure facilities which have collapsed during the last few days. Even the distribution of aid should be systematic." The Ministry of Industries has appointed a task force to identify the needs and problems of the Small and Medium Industries in the flood-affected areas. Collection of information has already begun and based on this information, a report will be prepared to revive disaster-stricken industries. The members of the task force are Dr U. Vidanapathirana, Sarath de Silva, Arjuna Mahendran, Sumi Munasinghe, Lal Nanayakkara and Dr Bandula Perera. According to a Central Bank news release, the Sabaragamuwa Development Bank has extended several facilities to its customers. Among them are giving a two-month grace period to pay off interest and instalments on loan capital, giving loans on concessionary terms to customers to build their homes and giving loans to rehabilitate businesses which have been damaged by floods. |
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