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| Sunday, 22 August 2004 |
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Thousand tanks program begins by Deepal Warnakulasuriya The United People's Freedom Alliance (UPFA) government keeping another pledge to the public at the April elections, last week began a giant program of rehabilitating 1,000 tanks islandwide to assist farmers. The program which was planned and organised by the Ministry of Agriculture, Livestock, Lands and Irrigation was inaugurated by Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapakse participating as the chief guest to renovate the historic Kattabuwawa, Hawanpelessa tank in Yapahuwa. Prime Minister Rajapakse addressing the gathering said that the event marked the beginning of a new era and invited all Sri Lankans to get ready to face the country's challenges. Agriculture, Livestock, Lands and Irrigation Minister Anura Kumara Dissanayake appealed the intellectuals to get together to re-evaluate the country's economic strategies. Both the Prime Minister and the subject minister stressed the necessity of creating a local economy instead of depending on foreign countries. Minister Dissanayake said the country should have an economy that mainly depends on agriculture, livestock, fisheries and small and medium scale industries and the Alliance government was proceeding to meet that target within several years. He also added that the country was blessed with over 100 reservoirs which should be used to achieve the target. He further said that the government's aim was to create a village centred economy and the chase for a Colombo centred economy should be forgotten. The first phase of `Rejuvenating the nation' project is to renovate 1010 tanks islandwide and the government has allocated Rs. 400 million for the project. The first phase will be concluded before December this year and the government's intervention will be restricted to financial and technology provision while people's participation would be the key. The Ministry has arranged a farmers' association and a `wev' association for each weva to be renovated by the project. No contractors will be involved in the process and transparent proceeding will be handled by the relevant two associations of the village. The project includes renovation of 150 tanks in Kurunegala, 100 tanks in Anuradhapura, 50 tanks in Puttalam, 46 tanks in Moneragala and 40 tanks in Hambantota. Ten ponds in Jaffna peninsula will also be renovated under the project. The Irrigation Minister also asked for the people's participation in the project as Rs. 400 million allocated by the government is not sufficient to implement the project. |
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