The Hon. Anura Karunathilaka

¶ 01 Mr. Speaker, the answer to that question is as follows.

¶ 02 (a) (i) Yes.

¶ 03 The Punasthapana Housing Scheme implemented in 1997, the Digamadulu Jana Udana Housing Scheme implemented in 1999, the Namal Uyana Housing Scheme implemented in 2002, and the Loka Janawasa Housing Project implemented in 2006 are located on lands belonging to the Ampara Divisional Secretary. Those lands have not yet been vested in the National Housing Development Authority (NHDA). Therefore, the NHDA has not been able to proceed with the process of issuing deeds.

¶ 04 (ii) Dighayugama and Dayapura are two housing schemes implemented after 2015 by granting loans to beneficiaries. Actions are currently being taken to transfer the relevant lands for those two schemes. After that transfer, we will be able to complete the issuance of deeds.

¶ 05 (iii) The District Secretary has informed the Divisional Secretaries that permits should be issued by the Divisional Secretaries for all houses in projects to which the NHDA has provided loans but which have not been vested in the Authority. Accordingly, in 2014, the Ampara Divisional Secretary sought clarification from the NHDA on whether the NHDA had any objection to issuing deeds for the five projects concerned. The NHDA’s General Manager informed in 2014 and again in 2022 that the NHDA had no objection to issuing deeds for those five projects. Relevant letters are at Annexes 01, 02 and 03.

¶ 06 Further, at a meeting held on 2023.09.01, a decision was taken by the then subject Minister authorizing the NHDA to take a decision to issue deeds to residents in villages not yet vested. In fact, for the NHDA to issue deeds, the relevant land should first be vested in the NHDA by the Divisional Secretary, after which deeds can be issued through the NHDA. However, we do not see a necessity to issue deeds through the NHDA in these cases. The Divisional Secretaries themselves can proceed to issue the necessary permits/deeds directly.

¶ 07 If the lands are vested in the NHDA and then deeds are issued again thereafter, it will take a long time, which could disadvantage the beneficiaries. Therefore, we have now decided that the relevant permits/deeds should be issued by the Divisional Secretaries themselves. We have already communicated this to the Divisional Secretaries. The letter dated 2025.07.02 has been sent in this regard (Annex 04).

¶ 08 Annexes 01, 02, 03 and 04 are tabled.

¶ 09 As I stated earlier, at the basic stage of vesting, when institutional heads submit requests to the line Ministry and to the Divisional Secretaries, it generally takes about one week. However, prior to any vesting of the above lands, the Ampara Divisional Secretary already has the authority to issue permits or deeds for these lands. It needs to be ascertained whether deeds have already been issued. Accordingly, as previously stated, the letter dated 2025.07.02 has been sent to the Ampara Divisional Secretary. Upon receiving a response from the Divisional Secretary, we will be able to forward the vesting request within a week.

¶ 10 (b) (i) Yes.

¶ 11 (ii) and (iii) Details of numerous housing projects across 14 Divisional Secretary’s Divisions are provided at Annex 05, including, by way of example, in Lahugala DS Division the Lahugala, Kithulana Watta Housing Project has 50 houses, of which deeds have been issued to 16; deeds remain to be issued to 34 more. Similar details for all 14 DS Divisions, including number of houses, number of deeds issued, and number to be issued, are included in the annex. Annex 05 is tabled.

¶ 12 (c) Reasons include: - Under Section 8(1), deeds are generally issued to beneficiaries after payment in accordance with the valuation/payment scheme. Beneficiaries sometimes take 5–6 years to complete the payments. In some cases, the assessed land value has not yet been fully paid, so deeds cannot be issued. - In certain instances, the original allottee has died, abandoned residence, or transfers were not properly executed, creating complex issues. - As per Circular 2014/01, some beneficiaries are unauthorized occupants who cannot be regularized; deeds cannot be issued to them. - For some projects proposed to be vested in the NHDA, the Divisional Secretary’s recommendations have been sent by the Provincial Land Commissioner to the Land Commissioner General, but the vesting is still not complete; therefore, deeds cannot yet be finalized for those projects. - For houses of the war-displaced and those affected by the tsunami, difficulties arise due to issues about land title, which ministry implemented the projects, and under which institutional framework; hence delays in issuing deeds.

¶ 13 (d) Not applicable.

¶ 14 Annex 05 produced at end of Answer.