Projects to be launched during 100-day program:

Govt will build houses for plantation community

by P. Krishnaswamy

The National Unity Government will address the housing problem of the plantation community by launching a series of housing projects during its 100-day program, State Minister for Plantation Industries K. Velayutham told the Sunday Observer yesterday.

They will be implemented in Hatton, Nuwara Eliya, Badulla, Kandy and other tea producing regions soon, he said.

The Government will bestow ownership of seven perches of homestead land and decent houses to each family to do away with the line-room culture, he said. Since the allotment of lands and construction of houses simultaneously for the large number of deserving families is not possible, more housing projects will be launched after the 100-day program as well, he said.

The Plantation Human Development Trust (PHDT) which was set up by the then UNP government 20 years ago had constructed 31,000 houses for workers and their ownership has already been bestowed on the families, he said.

The PHDT is a tripartite mechanism involving the Government, estate managements and major trade unions and the houses were constructed on a soft loan basis, he said.