Bold Housing Plan to Rebuild Lives After Disaster

COLOMBO (News 1st); Sri Lanka President Anura Kumara Dissanayake announced an ambitious housing initiative that promises dignity and security for thousands of affected families.

"Approximately 700,000 families have been affected by this disaster in one way or another. We need to build more than 20,000 new houses," the President stated, outlining the scale of the challenge.

These homes will be constructed under the 2026 national budget plan, which already included a target of 31,000 houses. The President highlighted that even 16 years after the end of the war in 2009, many families in the North remain in temporary shelters. "For them, we allocated Rs. 500 million to build 2,500 houses," he said.

In addition, a community-driven housing program for economically challenged villages aims to build 10,000 houses this year, bringing the total target to over 50,000 houses in 2026.

The recovery effort has received global attention, with the World Bank supporting a preliminary estimate of USD 4.1 billion. Currently, identified projects amount to USD 2.8 billion, with more to follow.