Tsunami housing construction in Trincomalee delayed

[TamilNet, Sunday, 09 July 2006, 16:44 GMT]
The construction of permanent houses for tsunami affected families within the fifty meter buffer zone in the Trincomalee district is being delayed due to the unsettled ground situation now prevailing in the district. Donor agencies which have signed Memorandum of Understanding with the district civil authority to construct 5893 permanent houses within fifty meter buffer zone so far have completed 589 houses and handed over only about 297 to beneficiaries, district secretariat sources said.

Donor agencies have brought down Colombo contractors to construct permanent houses due to the acute dearth for local contractors in Trincomalee.

But following the escalation of violence in the district Colombo contractors have suspended their works on accepted projects in the district citing security concerns for the workers and difficulties facing in the transportation of building materials to the Trincomalee district from Colombo and other outstations.

Hence the delay in completing the construction of permanent houses since the tsunami struck coastal areas in Trincomalee district nineteen months ago.