Japan grants additional $ 860,500 for demining

The Japanese government extended an additional US$ 860,500 (Rs.107 million) grant aid for humanitarian demining in the North through the HALO Trust to expedite the government's efforts to achieve a mine-free Sri Lanka.

The HALO Trust program Manager Bartholomew Digby said the Trust has been conducting mine clearance in the North with government support since 2002 throughout Jaffna, Kilinochchi, Trincomalee and Mullaitivu districts.

He said over 1,000 locals, including women, have been employed.

Digby said 2013 marks 10 years of support for The HALO Trust by the Japanese government through the Japanese Grant Assistance for Grassroots Human Security Project.

Over this time, Japanese funded mine clearance teams cleared over 660 hectares of land with landmines and explosives, and have safely removed and destroyed over 23,000 landmines and 1,400 items of unexploded ordnance.

The clearance of this land has enabled the resettlement and the resumption of livelihoods for residents including those displaced in the last years of the humanitarian operation.The removal of explosives has allowed for the development and renovation of infrastructure; from roads to reservoirs to schools, which will benefit Sri Lankans.

The grant contract was signed by Japanese ambassador Nobuhito Hobo and The HALO Trust program manager Bartholomew Digby at the ambassador's residence in Colombo yesterday.