Hon. Shanakiyan Rajaputhiran Rasamanickam

¶ 01 Thank you, Hon. Minister. Your answer is welcome and reflects the current ground situation. You noted Ambilanturai Road falls under iRoad (World Bank) and will be rehabilitated. However, six months have passed since your Government took office and the Porativupattu DDC has not met. The road from Vellaveli through Bakki-ella to Ugana remains in disrepair. You stated Rs. 31 million is allocated this year. The Budget speech said Rs. 11 billion for roads, of which Rs. 5 billion is for the North and Rs. 6 billion nationwide. Divided equally across 25 districts, that’s about Rs. 300 million per district; historically only ~55% of capital allocations are spent, i.e., about Rs. 150 million per district, if evenly spread. In practice, it is not even. Bakki-ella main road is unusable; recently an ambulance could not pass until soil was laid.

¶ 02 Last month, to a similar question, you said you could not act on roads under 13th Amendment subjects. Can your Ministry make arrangements for immediate rehabilitation of this road? That is my first supplementary.