The government will be allocated Rs. 11,250 million through District Coordination Committees to recommence the decentralized budget program which had been put on hold for three years, President Ranil Wickremesinghe has said.
Addressing the District Coordination Committee meeting held at the Presidential Secretariat in Colombo on Thursday (Dec.21), the Head of State revealed that the money would be released to District Secretaries in the first week of January 2024.
Delivering the 2024 Budget Speech in parliament, Wickremesinghe mentioned that the program would be implemented under the supervision of the Department of National Planning, using a systematic and standard approach.
“Regional development programs were temporarily suspended due to the economic crisis in the country and the lack of funds under the decentralized budget program. As these programs could not be implemented, public representatives could not contribute to the rural development activities,” he told the parliament in November.
Accordingly, each district in the country will receive a decentralized budget based on the available number of seats, starting next year.
