After Years in an Abandoned Tea Factory, 50 Families Finally Get Permanent Homes

COLOMBO (News 1st): Fifty families who lost their homes in a devastating landslide in the Kabaragala area of Haldummulla, Badulla, officially received permanent housing as the Government handed over the newly completed Navodhayapuram Housing Project under the patronage of President Anura Kumara Dissanayake.

The beneficiaries were among those displaced by a landslide that struck the Kabaragala area in March 2023, destroying homes and forcing dozens of families to seek shelter elsewhere. For nearly three and a half years, many of the affected residents had been living under difficult conditions in a closed-down tea factory located in the Makanda area of Poonagala, awaiting a permanent solution.

The Navodhayapuram Housing Project was launched under the Government's policy framework, "A Prosperous Country, A Beautiful Life," with the objective of uplifting the living standards of the plantation community and providing safe, permanent housing for families affected by natural disasters.

Under the project, 50 fully completed houses have been constructed, with each beneficiary family receiving a 10-perch land plot and a modern housing unit measuring approximately 550 square feet.

Each housing unit has been built at an estimated cost of nearly Rs. 3.2 million, while the total investment for the project amounts to approximately Rs. 160 million.

The official handover ceremony took place today under the leadership of President Anura Kumara Dissanayake.