Aussie Govt funds drinking water projects in the plantation sector

by S. Thillainathan

The Plantation Human Development Trust (PHDT) is responsible to develop the living conditions of people in the plantation sector.

As an appreciation of the good work of the PHDT the Australian government will fund US $ 3.5 million in association with the World View, for drinking water projects for estate workers. They will also provide through the UNICEF US dollars 4.8 million for nutrition program for 100 schools in the estate sector.

The assurances were made by Robyn Mudie, the Australian High Commissioner in Sri Lanka while she participated as the chief guest at the 20th Annual General Meeting of the PHDT in Colombo. The Trust (PHDT) was established on September 18, 1992 as the Plantation Housing & Social Welfare Trust (PHSWT), incorporated in Sri Lanka under the Companies Act No. 17 of 1982. It was later re-named PHDT on October 25, 2002.

The PHDT, a tripartite organisation comprising the Government of Sri Lanka (GOSL), Regional Plantation Companies (RPC) and Plantation Trade Unions (TU) was formed by the GOSL, to co-ordinate and facilitate a program to enhance the quality of life of the one million Plantation community.

The PHDT is a Human Development Organisation, gazetted under the Ministry of Livestock and Rural Community Development, providing sustainable development programs, to continuously improve the quality of life of the plantation community totalling to 951,291 people, consisting 238,159 families.

It is headquartered in Colombo and has seven regional offices, in Galle, Ratnapura, Badulla, Kandy, Kegalle, Hatton and Nuwara Eliya spread across the plantation sector.

All Regional Plantation companies, the Sri Lanka State Plantation Corporation, Janatha Estates Development Board and Elkaduwa Plantation Ltd., benefit from the sector by way of services and investment.

From inception, the PHDT through its extensive network has been facilitating a wide spectrum of social development activities and interventions aimed at improving the quality of life in the plantation sector, besides adding value to its human capital and obtaining productivity gains in the sector.