(COLOMBO, LANKAPUVATH) –The Office of National Unity and Reconciliation (ONUR) Introduced the ‘Enterprise Sri Lanka’ Loan Scheme and “Gampraliya Project” to Northern Province last week at stakeholder meetings held at the District Secretariats in Jaffna and Vavuniya.
A progress review of last 3 years’ work by ONUR in the Districts was presented by the respective District Secretaries and commitments were made towards additional initiatives for the upcoming year continue to focus on projects related to income generation, sanitation, rural infrastructure development, psychosocial support programmes and projects for female headed households.
The distinguished attendees including Northern Province Chief Minister Hon. C V Wigneswaran, Deputy Minister Kader Masthan, Parliamentarians Mavai Senadhirajah, S. Adaikkalanathan, other Members of Parliament and Northern Provincial Council appreciated the work being carried out by ONUR while giving constructive feedback towards better implementation of projects by further delegating the work to various institutions.
Chairperson of ONUR, Former President Chandrika Bandaranaike Kumaratunga said “it’s important to empower communities and individuals to be able to improve their lives and bring normalcy. The loans introduced by government and the work we do through ONUR are all meant for the whole of Sri Lanka and each activity contributes towards building long lasting peace in its own way.”
ONUR in its role as a catalyst in the work related to reconciliation, has completed close to 600 projects worth of RS. 1,250 Million in the North and East Provinces, to uplift the basic infrastructure facilities such as rural roads, community water supply and sanitation, access to electricity, education, health, irrigation and livelihood development in the last 2 years.
It was highlighted that “Enterprise Sri Lanka” loan schemes to encourage Entrepreneurship would enable provision of credit facilities for resumption of economic activities in agriculture, livestock, fisheries, micro & small enterprises, trade & other self-employment projects in war effected areas. Newly introduced rapid rural infrastructure investment scheme “Gamperaliya” will invest directly to uplift the living standards of local communities.
