India on Wednesday handed over to Sri Lanka five new buildings for schools in the country's north.
A special event was held at St Henry's College, Ilavalai in Jaffna during which new school buildings constructed with the Indian assistance in the Northern Province were handed over to the people of Sri Lanka. Governor of the Northern Province P.S.M. Charles and the Deputy High Commissioner of India to Sri Lanka Vinod K. Jacob jointly inaugurated the new buildings.
The event which coincided with Thai Pongal festival was attended by senior government officials, leaders from the region, students and teachers of the schools.
These buildings are part of new classroom buildings being constructed in 27 schools in the Northern Province at a cost of 250 million Sri Lankan Rupees. Of these 20 school buildings have been completed and inaugurated including the buildings for five schools handed over today. The remaining seven school buildings are expected to be completed shortly.
This project is part of Government of India's continued people-oriented development cooperation with Sri Lankan Government. India's overall commitment of development assistance to Sri Lanka stands at a total of around USD 3.5 billion and among these, USD 560 million is pure grant assistance.
Out of the total commitment of 63,000 houses, 47,500 houses have already been built. Besides, various projects are undertaken for rehabilitation and resettlement, the Government of India has constructed a total of 46000 houses in the region.
Government of India has also assisted Faculty of Agriculture and Engineering in Kilinochchi campus of Jaffna University with equipments and skill components worth SLR 600 million.
The ongoing development cooperation projects in the Northern Province under Government of India's grant assistance include the construction of Cultural Centre in Jaffna, construction of 3000 Rain Water Harvesting units, construction of 25 model villages consisting of 600 houses, establishing a Business/ICT Incubator Center in Jaffna among others. (AN)
( With inputs from ANI )