Red Cross to begin housing for estate sector with support from the Government of India

09/06/2016 – Colombo, Sri Lanka: The Sri Lanka Red Cross Society will begin construction of 1600 permanent houses to the most vulnerable people in the Estate Sector in Sri Lanka. The funding support to this project comes from the Government of India.

Today the agreement with the Government of India was signed between the International Federation of Red Cross & Red Crescent Societies (IFRC) and the High Commission of India.

Head of Country Office of IFRC Sri Lanka Igor Dmitryuk signed on behalf of SLRCS & IFRC while A. Chandru the Second Secretary for Development Corporation signed on behalf of the High Commission of India.

These houses will enrich and enhance the quality of life of the estate worker who currently live in line houses. They are just a block of houses where over 80 to 90 people cramped up in one single block.

The project will last for 2 years. The modality of construction for these houses would be exactly as the much successful Post Conflict Recovery Programme. It will be implemented as an owner driven project.

Once the beneficiary is selected the Red Cross provides technical support to help build their home. This happens in four stages where the complete grant of 700,000 rupees is given in four installments. The first stage is to lay the foundation, the next to construct walls, the third to complete the roof and the fourth to complete the house.

This project is implemented as a partnership between the Red Cross and the beneficiary. From the start, both parties are actively involved in the construction process, and the beneficiary has a key say in how his/her home will be built.