Sri Lanka’s Tamil leaders have rejected a proposed ArcelorMittal housing project for the war-affected in the North and East, deeming its cost and design unsuitable for the region, The Hindu newspaper reported.

In a recent letter to President Maithripala Sirisena and Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe, leaders of the Tamil National Alliance (TNA) — a coalition of political parties representing the island’s Northern Tamils — said they “strongly oppose” the project. They pointed to “climatic unsuitability, flimsy construction, lack of durability and unjustifiable high costs” as reasons.

Reportedly, the global steel major, owned by billionaire Lakshmi Mittal, was to build 65,000 pre-fabricated houses for LKR 2.1 million each (approximately Rs. 9.7 lakh). While northern Tamils, particularly those displaced during the war, were in desperate need of houses, TNA leaders argue that they should be given masonry houses that would cost far less and could engage local labour.

This is not the first time the proposed mega project is facing resistance. Ever since there were indications that the government was likely to award the contract to ArcelorMittal in early 2016, the initiative ran into controversy, with civil society members and academics opposing the move.

Experts from the Moratuwa University, a leading school of engineering, pointed to structural limitations in the designs.

-Agencies