The Urban Development and Housing Minister Prasanna Ranatunga instructed the National Housing Development Authority (NHDA) to promptly complete the work on 39,815 half-built and now abandoned houses in 2,150 ‘Uda Gammana’ village development projects started when the current Opposition Leader Sajith Premadasa was the Housing Minister.
Minister Ranatunga says that the construction of these houses will be completed in conjunction with the solar panel house project and village power plant programme to be implemented in the future with the help of a foreign investor.
A media statement by the Ministry said during the four years of 2015-2019 when Premadasa was the Housing Minister, work had started on 42,610 housing units in 2,158 villages across the country.
But that work was only partially completed.
Information was reported that most of the houses are not in habitable condition and their owners are in a lot of trouble due to this.
It has been revealed that this situation is due to the fact that the amount allocated for one Udagama programme has been distributed in parts to several Udagama Programmes.
After former President Gotabaya Rajapaksa came to power, steps were taken to complete the work of 2,795 houses in eight Udagam villages which had been left unfinished which were started during the time of Premadasa as the Housing Minister. The work in those villages was completed using the financial provisions of the Government and the National Housing Development Authority (NHDA). But due to the economic crisis and struggles faced by the country due to the Covid-19 pandemic, the programme had to be stopped midway.
Taking this situation into consideration, Minister Ranatunga has instructed the not to build new villages until the work in those incomplete villages are completed.
In the meantime, the National Housing Development Authority says that the focus is also on the speedy completion of the construction of 98,000 houses that have been started by various governments and have been stopped mid-way. The NHDA says that Rs.24,000 million is needed for that. Minister Ranatunga, has instructed the National Housing Development Authority to quickly prepare and submit a suitable work programme to provide the necessary financial provisions for that.
Also, the National Housing Development Authority says that during Premadasa’s tenure as the Minister for Housing, there are issues related to the provision of housing loans. According to the instructions of the Minister of Urban Development and Housing, the National Housing Development Authority has started investigations.
The National Housing Development Authority says that depending on the information obtained from the investigations, the future housing loan and assistance installments will not be given to the unqualified beneficiaries and legal actions will be taken to recover the installments that have been given so far if such assistance have been given to unsuitable beneficiaries.
