About 23,000 projects have been implemented under the government’s Prajashakthi programme using Rs. 23 billion of the Rs. 25 billion allocated to it in the 2026 Budget, the President’s Media Division has said.
All of the projects are expected to be completed by the end of this year, according to the statement reported by Ada Derana on Tuesday.
The figures were presented at a review meeting at the Presidential Secretariat covering the programme’s progress in 2026 and its plans for 2027. The meeting was led by Minister of Rural Development, Social Security and Community Empowerment Dr. Upali Pannilage and the Secretary to the President, Dr. Nandika Sanath Kumanayake.
The programme is the government’s flagship rural anti-poverty initiative, aimed at eradicating poverty, empowering communities and ensuring economic justice.
The same Rs. 23bn, at a later stage
The headline figure has not moved since the spring, but what it describes has. When President Anura Kumara Dissanayake chaired a progress review in May, officials said Rs. 23 billion of the Rs. 25 billion allocation had been approved and forwarded to district secretaries. Tuesday’s statement says the same sum has now been used to implement projects on the ground.
That leaves roughly Rs. 2 billion of the 2026 allocation, or about 8%, still unspent with four months of the year remaining.
Ada Derana’s report does not break the 23,000 projects down by province or district, does not say how many have already been completed as against how many are still in progress, and gives no sector split between the livelihood development, production economy and food security categories the programme works through.
At an average of about Rs. 1 million per project, the spending is spread thinly by design: Prajashakthi channels money to schemes prioritised locally by Community Development Councils, of which 13,977 had been established at Grama Niladhari Division level as of May, one for each such division.
No figure was given for the 2027 allocation the review meeting was convened to plan.
