India and Sri Lanka have exchanged diplomatic notes, paving way for a threefold increase in the unit cost of a house under Phase 3 of the Indian Housing Project (IHP), the Indian High Commission in Colombo says.

The diplomatic notes were exchanged by the Indian High Commissioner to Sri Lanka, Gopal Baglay and Minister of Water Supply & Estate Infrastructure Development, Jeevan Thondaman.

The Indian High Commission said this step would now enable expeditious completion of Phase-3 of IHP, under which 4,000 houses are being constructed through grant assistance by the Indian government in plantation areas of Sri Lanka, spread across 7 districts in Central, Uva and Southern Provinces.

Nearly 46,000 houses have been built in different parts of Sri Lanka under the first two phases of IHP.

The next phase for the construction of 10,000 houses in plantation areas, announced by Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi is expected to commence soon.

Exchange of diplomatic notes takes place at an important juncture when the Indian-Origin Tamil community who are concentrated in the plantation areas marks 200 years of their arrival to Sri Lanka, the Indian High Commission said further in its statement. 

This also coincides with 100 years of establishment of the Assistant High Commission of India in Kandy, which has been instrumental in implementing several people-centric grant schemes by the Indian government for the Indian-Origin Tamil community cutting across areas such as education, health, vocational training, livelihood development and several others, in addition to housing.

These milestones will be commemorated by the government of India and Sri Lanka through several joint initiatives along with the establishment of 75 years of diplomatic relations between the two neighbours.