Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa, in the budget proposal for the year 2021, said Rs 1 trillion (Rs 1,000 billion) will be invested under the ‘Water for All’ national plan, to ensure that every citizen in the country has access to drinking water.

This investment will be utilized for 1,000 community water projects, 171 major projects aimed enhancing the production capacity, new water supply schemes and to expedite ongoing projects from 2021 to 2024.

At present, only 54 per cent of the population have access to pipe-borne safe drinking water, the prime minister added.

The government also plans to enhance the local value of this project by engaging local engineers and contractors at national as well at rural level.

Under this mechanism, it is expected to increase the daily volume of water supply from 2.1 million cubic meters to 4.4 million cubic meters and to provide pipe-borne drinking water to an additional 3.5 million families, by laying at least 40,000 km of pipes throughout the country.

Commencing this initiative, Rs. 125 billion is allocated for 2021 to implement 263 community water projects, enhance the usage of current water supply through 171 projects and to commence 40 new projects, he continued.

PM Rajapaksa noted that the treasury guarantees will be provided to obtain bank financing along with this allocation.