Fri, 2014-06-06 10:28 — admin
Sri Lanka, June 4, 2014: The Ministry of Resettlement will construct 2,200 new toilets for resettled families in the Northern and Eastern Districts.
Resettlement Ministry Secretary Janaka Sugathadasa said Rs. 140 million had been for the purpose. The minimum average cost of a toilet unit to be constructed would be Rs. 50,000. Under the project, 2,200 resettled families, most of them belonging to low income category, would benefit.
In the selection of beneficiaries, the resettled families in Mullaitivu, Killinochchi and Batticaloa Districts, where a large number of people got displaced and resettled would be accorded priority, Sugathadasa said. Further, access to sanitary facilities was relatively low in those districts, he said.
A recent study commissioned by the Ministry of Resettlement on the sanitary requirements among internally displaced and resettled families in the Northern and Eastern districts has revealed that 49,509 resettled families are without access to toilets. The ministry has formulating a two year plan to address sanitary needs of those families as a matter of priority. However, up to now a total of 226,239 internally displaced families have been resettled in the Northern and Eastern Provinces and therefore and sanitary facilities have been made available to a vast majority of them, according to the ministry secretary. In 2013, the Ministry of Resettlement implemented a similar project covering Northern and Eastern Districts under which 1,673 toilets were constructed. (Source: island.ik)