India’s High Commissioner to Sri Lanka, Santosh Jha, joined Sri Lankan President Ranil Wickremesinghe virtually on Monday to launch the construction of 1,300 houses. This marks the first phase of a larger project to build 10,000 houses in Sri Lanka’s plantation areas, funded by an Indian grant.
The High Commission of India in Colombo shared photos from the event on X (formerly Twitter). The initial 1,300 houses will be constructed across 45 estates in 10 districts. India’s commitment to housing development in Sri Lanka now exceeds 60,000 houses, the High Commission stated.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi first announced the 10,000-house project during his visit to Sri Lanka in May 2017. Housing continues to be a key area of focus in India’s people-centric development cooperation with Sri Lanka.
In addition to this project, 2,400 houses are being built across Sri Lanka’s 25 districts as part of other housing initiatives. India’s overall development cooperation portfolio with Sri Lanka amounts to approximately USD 5 billion, with nearly USD 600 million provided as grants, according to a press release issued by the High Commission in November last year.
Source: Devdiscourse