Special Committee to Review National Housing Development Authority Projects

COLOMBO (News 1st); The Cabinet has approved the appointment of a special expert committee to obtain recommendations aimed at resolving issues that have arisen in housing projects launched by the National Housing Development Authority (NHDA).

It has been revealed that during the 2015 to 2019 period, a total of 2,562 housing projects had been planned for implementation under the National Housing Development Authority. The total number of houses expected to be constructed under these projects stood at 64,407.

The planned housing projects included 1,138 villages under housing grant schemes, 1,334 villages through the provision of housing loans to beneficiaries, and 90 villages under assistance provided by the Government of India.

Of these projects, construction has been completed and opened in 386 villages, accounting for a total of 10,532 housing units.

Estimates indicate that an additional Rs. 11.26 billion in funding would be required to complete the remaining housing units.

As various reasons have been identified for the slow progress of these projects, the expert committee will be tasked with analyzing the current status of the housing schemes, identifying low-income families with genuine housing needs, accelerating the completion of stalled projects, resettling beneficiaries, and formulating a systematic mechanism to recover housing loans already disbursed.

The proposal to appoint the expert committee was submitted by the Minister of Housing Construction and Water Supply, and has received approval from the Cabinet to carry out the necessary studies and submit recommendations.