President Anura Kumara Dissanayake said that the 2027 Budget would place special emphasis on finding lasting solutions to the public’s long-standing drinking water issues.

The President made these remarks while participating in a discussion held at the Presidential Secretariat this morning (08) to review the progress of projects implemented under the 2026 Budget allocations for the Ministry of Housing, Construction and Water Supply and to discuss the Ministry’s budgetary requirements for 2027, according to a statement issued by the President’s Media Division (PMD).

The meeting reviewed the progress of projects implemented under the 2026 Budget by all departments and institutions under the Ministry’s purview, including the National Water Supply and Drainage Board, Department of National Community Water Supply, the National Housing Development Authority and the Resettlement Division of the Ministry of Housing, Construction and Water Supply. Discussions also focused on their plans and funding requirements for 2027.

The President pointed out that the existence of multiple institutions under different ministries dealing with the same subject had resulted in inefficiencies in project implementation. 

He further noted that maintaining institutions established many years ago for objectives and needs that were no longer relevant had imposed an unnecessary financial burden on the Government. He therefore instructed officials to take steps to discontinue all institutions that were no longer productive or effective, the statement said.

Attention was also focused on the progress and future activities of several major water supply projects, including the Kandy North Integrated Water Supply Project, the Greater Colombo Wastewater Management Project, the Ambatale Water Supply Project and the Anuradhapura North Water Supply Project. 

Extensive discussions were also held on allocating the largest budgetary provision in the country’s history in the 2027 Budget to address drinking water issues across the island, the PMD stated.

Special attention was also given to the national resettlement programme. The President instructed officials to expedite the resettlement of people displaced by the war and to implement a housing assistance programme to support the completion of partially constructed houses belonging to low-income families.

The meeting also reviewed the progress of the Government’s housing development programme, ‘A Place of Our Own – A Beautiful Life’, and discussed budget allocations for its implementation in the coming year, it added.

--PMD--