Tamil National alliance called for genuine consultation with representatives of the North-East on expenditure of the budget allocated for the regions post-war re-developement.
Speaking at the opening parliamentary debate Tamil National Alliance parliamentarian MA Sumanthiran urged Sri Lanka’s government to refrain from using the allocated budget for the North-East redevelopment on roads and infrastructure, as such expenditure should come from the infrastructure budget.
Noting that the allocation for North-East development was not has high as desired Mr Sumanthiran questioned what the budget will actually be used for and welcomed the government's compromise of a donor conference for the North-East.
Stressing the need for genuine consultation with representatives of the North-East when deciding how to use the allocated budget, he said,
“If you use it for roads, most of it will be swallowed up. I urged the government to not take budget from this allocation for infrastructure. That should go for allocations made to the respective ministries. Though we would like a larger budget for North-East development, we appreciate that this comes with the promise of a donor conference for the North-East in 2016, particularly with the aim of recovery form the devastation of the war. We urge the government to hold the donor conference so we receive substantial amount of money for this important aspect. The North-East has been neglected for 6 years after the war. There were roads and bridges built which we welcomed. But that did not reach the people. My plea today is that yes you have made some allocation for the North-East development. Bearing in mind that that areas needs far more than the rest of the area. How that money is to be utilised is absolutely important. And how you consult with the people there and identify the needs of the area which are different to the other areas is absolutely essential. I hope the exercise of the consultation with the representatives of that area will be genuine and actually results in projects and methods that are implemented to raise the living standard of the people there.”
In his delivery of the 2016 budget to parliament, Sri Lanka's finance minsiter Ravi Karunanayake said that a “rapid large scale resettlement programme” for internally displaced people in the North-East would also be put tin place.
Mr Karunanayake further pledged to build a new cancer hospital in Jaffna and expand the Central Expressway from Colombo to Jaffna.
Speaking at the opening parliamentary debate Tamil National Alliance parliamentarian MA Sumanthiran urged Sri Lanka’s government to refrain from using the allocated budget for the North-East redevelopment on roads and infrastructure, as such expenditure should come from the infrastructure budget.
Noting that the allocation for North-East development was not has high as desired Mr Sumanthiran questioned what the budget will actually be used for and welcomed the government's compromise of a donor conference for the North-East.
Stressing the need for genuine consultation with representatives of the North-East when deciding how to use the allocated budget, he said,
“If you use it for roads, most of it will be swallowed up. I urged the government to not take budget from this allocation for infrastructure. That should go for allocations made to the respective ministries. Though we would like a larger budget for North-East development, we appreciate that this comes with the promise of a donor conference for the North-East in 2016, particularly with the aim of recovery form the devastation of the war. We urge the government to hold the donor conference so we receive substantial amount of money for this important aspect. The North-East has been neglected for 6 years after the war. There were roads and bridges built which we welcomed. But that did not reach the people. My plea today is that yes you have made some allocation for the North-East development. Bearing in mind that that areas needs far more than the rest of the area. How that money is to be utilised is absolutely important. And how you consult with the people there and identify the needs of the area which are different to the other areas is absolutely essential. I hope the exercise of the consultation with the representatives of that area will be genuine and actually results in projects and methods that are implemented to raise the living standard of the people there.”
In his delivery of the 2016 budget to parliament, Sri Lanka's finance minsiter Ravi Karunanayake said that a “rapid large scale resettlement programme” for internally displaced people in the North-East would also be put tin place.
Mr Karunanayake further pledged to build a new cancer hospital in Jaffna and expand the Central Expressway from Colombo to Jaffna.