Rs. 300,000 Million to develop North

Under the Uthuru Wasanthaya programme the Northern Province has got the best medical facilities in the country.  The entire health system of the Northern province was completely destroyed by the tiger terrorists and they used the hospital as their artillery bases with the objective of enhancing their anti-Sri Lankan propaganda campaign to claim that the security forces were shelling hospital and killing innocent patients in the hospitals.  

Priority was given under the Uthuru Wasanthaya programme to upgrade the health facilities in the North and as a result of which the Northern Province has the best teaching hospital in the country, seven base hospitals, 57 divisional hospitals and 102 curative medical institutions.  Over 600 nurses, 366 medical officers and 68 consultants are now engaged in the government medical service in the North.

This was stated by the Secretary of Northern Province Presidential Task Force on Resettlement, Development and Security Mr. S.B. Divaratne addressing a media conference held at the Ministry of Mass Media and Information yesterday.

In addition to this the government has also provided all other facilities such as housing, electricity, drinking water and sanitation, health, education, irrigation and other infrastructure for the people of the North within a short period of 4 years at a cost of more Rs. 300,000 million

Houses in the North have been severely destroyed at the end of ending the war.  In order to overcome the housing problem faced by the people who were rescued from the clutches of the terrorists the government has built 46,923 houses with United Nations, Sri Lanka Army and NGO assistance. The Indian government has also agreed to build another 50,000 houses.

Electricity was another that had been severely affected by the terrorist activities.  There were no electricity supplies to the districts of Kilinochchi and Mulativu at the time of ending the war and many people in the Jaffna peninsula were using generators to get their electricity requirements fulfilled.  The government launched several electricity projects and a network of building transmission lines was started.  Building a  main transmission line of 67 kilometers length from Kilinochchi to Chunnakam was undertaken to connect the transmission lines with the national grid.  

Due to the expeditious measures taken to liberate the people of the North from the 3 decades of darkness they experienced due to the destruction of electricity supplies by the terrorists more than 50 percent of the areas of Mullathivu and Kilinochchi districts,  82 percent of the areas in the Vavuiniya and upto  84 percent in the Jaffna district have now been provided with electrity.