Infrastructure for housing and investment laid:

Mullaitivu gets a new look

By Dhaneshi Yatawara reporting from Mullative

Today, the transformation in Mullaitivu is in full swing. Roads that were once dirty have been fully carpeted. Shops, banks, investment institutes, saloons, eating houses and tailorshops are coming up as the towns turn into commercial centres. The haunted feeling that prevailed three years ago is no more. Marks of the battle against ruthless terrorists are disappearing.

A total area of 1,160 square kilometres is cleared and released for cultivation, 12,035 cattle were released for farmers and more poultry farming facilities are provided. Today, 66 schools function in the district. Six hospitals and several medical centres are functioning to treat patients. There are 35 kovils, 41 churches, 10 mosques and a temple for the people to worship. Electricity is available for all DS divisions and 4,120 households are illuminated. Major parts of the minor roads are upgraded. All major roads are developed with 85 percent of work being completed.

"When we came here to establish the Security Forces' headquarters, there were no civilians. Lands were scattered with improvised explosive devices and minefields. Infrastructure facilities were damaged," said Major General L.B.R. Mark, Security Forces Commander, Mullaitivu.

Mullaitivu has strong potential to become an agriculture- based economic centre and today it is on the path to become one, said Major General Mark as he started to explain the remarkable change happening in this little plot of land on this island nation. During an interview with the Sunday Observer, Maj. Gen. Mark said it is high time the country started using this resourceful land for the betterment of the country and its people.

"People from different strata of society visit this place, many seeking investment opportunities. There is a very good response from private organisations to invest. Yet these private companies that visit this area are very concerned about having the proper basic infrastructure facilities. Especially investors ready to set up factories always say that if the infrastructure is there in Mullaitivu, they are willing to come."

"The Trincomalee, Mullaitivu, Jaffna road is getting constructed at a rapid pace on the coastal line. The road towards Nayaru Lagoon is carpeted now and the construction of a new road on the Kokilai area is happening. Once the Kokilai bridge comes up, the road would connect Mullaitivu to that side," he said. Running from A9 road, the Mankulam-Mullaitivu road is developing. It comes up to Nedunkerni and cuts across to Oddusudan and leads towards Mullaitivu. There is a straight road that comes towards Mullaitivu, specifically to Mulliyaweli town a few kilometres before Mullaitivu town, which is still under construction. Access to Mullaitivu from Paranthan is also available.

Employment

Irrespective of the number of access roads, most youth of the area do not want to go outside to work, according to Maj. Gen. Mark. Due to different personal reasons, many of the youth do not wish to go out of Mullaitivu looking for employment. "On their request, when we tried to discuss the issue with entrepreneurs found through personal contacts, they emphasised the problem they face with inadequate infrastructure - i.e. basically a good road network and electricity.

''Today, both these facilities are coming up with the Government developments and investment will be possible in the near future," he said.

The next step is to take these facilities into interior villages. "During different discussions held, Government officials said that by this year these requirements will be fulfilled too," he said.

Mullaitivu district has three DS divisions. Only Maritimepattu, Oddusudan and Pudukuduyirrippu areas are under the Security Forces Headquarters (SFHQ), Mullaitivu.

Key challenges

Housing is the key challenge, Maj. Gen. Mark said. "We are very worried about providing houses to the newly resettled people. In fact, we are working closely with the Presidential Task Force in building houses for the newly resettled communities whose houses are either totally or partially destroyed," he said. A program to construct 7,500 houses in the Mullaitivu district is going on, funded by the Indian Government. At the moment, many of these houses are coming up in the Thunukkai and Manthai areas of the district and those areas do not come under the Mullaitivu Security Forces Headquarters.

''Other than this project, we as the military have put up a number of houses either funded by the Government or well-wishers. We have taken the responsibility to construct houses", he said.

The initial resettlement program was at Oddusudan, and ended with resettling people in Keppapilavu village in Maritimepattu area.

As of today, in the areas coming under the SFHQ Mullaitivu, 78,160 people who were displaced earlier are now resettled in their own lands. More than 25,700 houses are occupied as of end -2012 which were mostly completely built or renovated through Government funding and constructed by the Sri Lanka Army and several house constructions funded by private contributions.

"A major portion of the humanitarian de-mining is done by the Army Engineer de-miners. Only a small portion is left to de-mine now. Demining is completed in 179,895,640 square metres," Maj. Gen. Mark explained.

"Today there are no more welfare villages for displaced persons. This was the greatest issue local and international organisations raised whenever they visited these areas. Now no one can harp on that issue," he said.

As he further explained, the area basically has agriculture- based livelihood activities. "There is a fishing community as well, but among the fishing community, the large-scale fishermen are from out of the Mullaitivu district. That is from the South basically," he added.

As done during the old days, when peace prevailed nearly three decades ago, fishermen from the South migrate here during the season and employ people from the local fishing communities. Today, some of the local fishermen have also started large-scale fishing. Few discrepancies crop up in the fishing communities.

"The best method would be for the relevant ministries to come in to solve the problems that the fishing community faces. Though people seek our help to settle their problems, bringing a solution is beyond our limitation. People are in a transforming stage and we need to understand this," said Maj. Gen. Mark.

Fifty houses in 90 days

''Through the Government mechanism, soldiers are building a model village in Keppapilavu, giving land to those people whose original lands were used for military purposes. In this model village, all the houses are built by the soldiers of the Army and we do the job hand in hand with the Rural Development Society of the village. The plan of a house, prioritising needs are done after discussing them with these Rural Development Societies (RDSs). A house includes three rooms with a toilet outside.

"The plans of these houses are drafted on the requirement of the villagers. They decide. The final decision came from the Rural Development Society to build a house within Rs. 375,000 allocated by the Government," Maj. Gen. Mark said.

"Building material worth this amount comes through the Assistant Government Agent directly to the village through the Government mechanism. The Army gets involved only in the construction part. We do not interfere in any of the Government mechanisms in which funds are transferred," he said.

"The Government plan was to initially build 175 houses and at the moment 50 houses are under construction by the Army as the preliminary process of the housing project. Some are complete and people are living in those houses; some are complete to roof level while others are under construction," Maj. Gen. Mark said.

The target is to build 50 houses in 90 days. "This is a challenge, but we are facing this with efficient planning," he explained.

The process in acquiring land for Government use is totally different to other such steps taking place in the country for different development activities. In many development activities, people getting relocated get other land and compensation. In this case, since the people need more help due to the transformation period they go through, we assist them in building the houses as well. Everyone is given a 40-perch land irrespective of whether they had more or less previously. Even if they lived in a thatched house previously, we build them a solid house. The place is built with all facilities that should be there for a model village.

''The model village, apart from the fully completed houses, will have a pre-school, cooperative shop, children's park, a solid road network, community centre and a water purification plant.

The water purification plant is completed and ready. We have brought the equipment from Singapore through a well-wisher found through personal contacts of Army officials," he said.

Another will come up with a 4,000 litre capacity, providing water for everybody. "This is funded by a youth group working as a charity organisation at national level," the Maj. Gen. said. "Many people from other parts of the country are contributing on a large scale. When they visit these areas, they see what the people need and individuals and charity organisations contribute to develop the area while elevating the living standards of the people," he added.

Soldiers' contribution

''Almost all of the community is aware of the soldiers' contribution. People living here know that when the Army gets involved, the work is efficient and fair, but unfortunately this is interpreted as 'militarisation' by certain elements. "There are a few elements even among these communities that project our efforts in a different way. I visit all these areas at least once a week and talk to the leaders and the villagers to find their needs," he said.

When the people arrived in this area to resettle last September, certain elements targeting to tarnish the rebuilding efforts tried to create a misconception. "These groups showed pictures of a patch of forest, identifying that as the resettling spot.

These were pictures of forests and not of the prepared land. In this locality, every land is like a forest and the area is still developing. Every developed area of the country had trees and bushes at the very beginning.

It is the same with this place. As the development progressed more land became suitable for human habitation," he said. "No one was pushing the resettlers into jungles," he said.

"The resettling community first arrived at a school and we had to assist with the Government responsibility to look after these people as Government administration was not strongly established in the area. We spoke to the people and explained what they were going to get.

We explained what the future of their village was going to be like. And the outside elements who wanted these people to join the protest campaigns could not drag them into their motive. They had brought people from Jaffna and Vavuniya, but none were from the concerned village," Maj. Gen. Mark said.

''The Army knows the pulse of these people. We are very close to them and live with them.The Army will never be discouraged by such comments and will assist the people who were rescued by our own Forces. As soldiers, we know we are working with very sensitive issues, yet we will continue to be engaged in nation building as our priority is to help our people. It is our bounden duty", he said.

The present development projects of the Mullaitivu district is heavily assisted by the Sri Lanka Army. Their efforts are not only to assist the Government national development plan, but also to work on their personal level to meet the targets of the national development program and upgrade the lives of resettling communities.

"When something happens, people expect the Army to get involved as they have a good understanding and trust with the soldiers. They feel safe when the Army is around. In fact, when I tried to remove certain military points where the civilian population was high, the villagers requested us not to do so. They know that at any emergency, officers and soldiers are there to help them," he said.