Hon. Shanakiyan Rajaputhiran Rasamanickam

¶ 01 Thank you, Hon. Deputy Minister. There should be a review of Oral Questions, as Questions I submitted within weeks of being elected appear on the Order Paper only after six or seven months. Work has commenced under World Bank funding; I know this. My first supplementary: At the Batticaloa District Coordinating Committee meeting chaired by your Cabinet Minister, we raised many road complaints. Most roads in our District belong to the Provincial Road Development Department (PRDD), while some belong to local authorities. Funds are with the Central Government, but ownership is with the Province. When the Central Government undertakes road development, we cannot seek separate central funds for PRDD roads, and provincial transfers are inadequate. Roads like Ambilanthurai–Kokkaddichcholai and nearby Villukkulam–Manalputti junction are in bad shape. Can your Ministry or the RDA allocate specific funds for provincial and local authority roads? For example, the Pakkiyella–Vellaveli road is so poor an ambulance cannot pass. Are there arrangements for RDA to fund provincial roads?