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| Sunday, 8 May 2005 |
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MIDEP allocates Rs. 518.8m for infrastructure by Don Asoka Wijewardena The Ministry of Infrastructure Development in the Eastern Province (MIDEP) in a bid to uplift the living conditions around 1.4 m people including tsunami affected has devised a strong action plan for the year 2005. The action plan encompasses a wide area of infrastructure development such as providing water facilities, construction of roads,bridges and culverts, construction of rural electrification projects, health infrastructure, community development projects, institutional strengthening projects,self-employment and income generation projects and infrastructure facilities projects for education. MIDEP Secretary K. Kalupahana told the Sunday Observer that around Rs.518.8 m had been allocated in the first phase to develop infrastructure facilities in Ampara, Batticaloa and Trincomalee districts and added that as infrastructure development activities were in progress in the Eastern Province, the MIDEP would expect to complete the task by end of 2005. Referring to the Infrastructure Development, Implementation Plan, Kalupahana explained that on the instruction of the Infrastructure Development Minister A. L. M. Athaulla and Deputy Minister M. I. Anver Ismail an integrated plan to rebuild the Eastern Province devastated by the tsunami tidal waves was prepared in respect of each sector after careful study of the data and other relevant information gathered through various reliable sources. Kalupahana also said that out of Rs.518.8 m about Rs.146.50 m had been funded by the Norwegian Government to develop and rehabilitate the Batticaloa District in which social mobilisation, rehabilitation of railways, reforestation, development of road networks were the major components of the project. He noted that in addition to said projects, fishery anchorages, state schools and agricultural areas, especially livestock farms would also be rehabilitated with the assistance of Fisheries Ministry and Urban Development and Water Supply Ministry and added that around Rs. 1000 m would be required for that purpose. MIDEP Additional Secretary S. Senaratne said that soon after tsunami a task force was set up on the post-tsunami rebuilding of the Eastern Province in collaboration with other stakeholders and submitted a supplemantary report to the Presidential Task Force which recommended it and subsequently it was submitted to the Department of National Planning for further action. Senaratne explained that the task force had estimated the damages and suggested remedial measures and the MIDEP could contact all the key ministries that were involved in the post-tsunami development work in the Eastern province. He said that besides that provincial level machinery and divisional level officers had to be contacted to obtain first hand information while the information was being collected by the task force comprising 19 officers selected from different ministries and statutory bodies involved in the infrastructure development in the Eastern Province and added that reconstruction strategies were first discussed and then formulated to rebuild the affected infrastructure. |
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