The government has launched a survey of incomplete government housing projects in the Northern and Eastern provinces, as part of efforts to revive stalled reconstruction and deliver permanent homes to intended beneficiaries.
Deputy Minister of Housing, Construction and Water Supply T.B. Sarath said construction of around 6,000 houses had been started under earlier programmes, but work on many of them was abandoned during the initial stages. The survey is intended to establish how many units remain unfinished and what is needed to complete them.
The government aims to finish the stalled projects as quickly as possible and hand over completed houses to the families they were meant for, the deputy minister said. He added that plans are under way to double the allocation for housing projects in next year’s budget.
Unfinished and abandoned housing has been a recurring problem in the former conflict-affected north and east, where several state-funded schemes stalled after only partial disbursement of construction grants, leaving families without permanent shelter years after work began.
The renewed focus on the region’s housing stock comes amid wider government commitments to expand low-income and permanent housing nationwide, and to account for funds already spent on projects that were never completed.
