The Hon. Dilip Wedaarachchi

¶ 01 Hon. Presiding Member, during this Committee Stage debate on the Heads of Expenditure of Transport, Highways, Ports and Civil Aviation; and Urban Development, Construction and Housing, I wish to raise a housing matter affecting my district and the country.

¶ 02 I speak on housing. In Hambantota District alone, 47,093 people cannot complete their houses and the State is not assisting them—they are suffering. I proposed a solution during the Budget Debate, but it was not implemented. In 2025, Rs. 104,532 million was allocated by the Housing Ministry, but only 35% was utilized; the rest returned to the Treasury. Had you implemented my proposal, we could have completed 47,093 houses for poor, shelterless, indebted people.

¶ 03 Under the Yahapalana Government, Hon. Sajith Premadasa, as Housing Minister, commenced 2,561 village schemes and began construction of 64,679 houses; 17,522 were completed. Works on 47,093 houses were stopped. I again propose today that these halted 47,093 houses be resumed.

¶ 04 In Hambantota District, 8,663 houses were completed across 337 villages, but 5,798 remain. In every Divisional Secretariat, in 3–4 villages you will find houses halted mid-construction—walls up with bricks, but no roofs, no electricity, no water—people destitute. Nationwide there are about 41,000 such houses. People voted expecting completion; when they were let down, many turned to the JVP/NPP. Yet the five MPs of Hambantota have not spoken about this, though they visit those villages for votes. Those people lack basic water and electricity, making homes uninhabitable, with children suffering. Come and see Hambantota. I request the Minister to complete these houses this year.

¶ 05 You now offer Rs. 1 million per house as assistance; meanwhile, officials from the Housing Development Authority are demanding repayment of the previous Rs. 600,000 loans from people who are still living in half-built houses without utilities. Why is this being done to the poor? Please instruct all district officials to report on these stalled houses and present to Parliament the funds needed to complete them.

¶ 06 Today is the President’s birthday. I ask him to take President Ranasinghe Premadasa as an example; on his birthdays he developed thousands of villages. Sajith Premadasa too provided houses and assistance on his father’s birthday. Please emulate that.

¶ 07 My proposal: provide the current Rs. 1 million grant through the Ministry of Housing also to the 47,093 halted houses, complete them this year, and have the President and Minister open them. You are moving to abolish MPs’ pensions with a two-thirds majority; similarly, bring the list of those who took the Rs. 600,000 housing loans to Parliament and, with your two-thirds and our support, write off those loans for these innocent people, then give Rs. 1 million each to complete the houses. If you grant Rs. 1 million now, they will be able to settle the old Rs. 600,000 loans too.

¶ 08 This Ministry has a noble history—from President Ranasinghe Premadasa’s national housing drive to Sajith Premadasa’s village reawakening, housing support, and cement assistance programmes. I request you to implement such programmes again. Thank you for the opportunity.