Online edition of the Daily News:
The first phase of the Transitional Accommodation Project (TAP) to provide suitable temporary accommodation to displaced persons due to the tsunami is now under way in ten affected districts.
The required administrative and operational structures have been put in place at the District level by the Task Force for Relief (TAFOR) which has been detailed by the President to implement the programme, states a press release issued by the office of the Commissioner General of Essential Services.
According to an initial report prepared by the United Nations High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR) which is the main lead agency co-ordinating with state agencies and International NGOs, over 4,000 temporary housing units have already been constructed by the respective agencies under the Project.
The project aims at providing much better temporary accommodation than the present tents and make-shift shelters where the affected families have accommodated soon after the disaster, until they are settled in permanent houses under the program launched by TAFFREN under the direction of the President.
Under the first phase of the Transitional Accommodation Project 10,000 housing units each with 200 to 250 square feet of floor area are earmarked to be erected by April 10. During the second phase another 20,000 shelters will come up before end of May this year.
The cost of these shelters (each unit costing on an average of Rs. 40,000)b will be borne entirely by International and Local Non-Governmental Organisations and implemented in co-ordination with District Secretaries and State agencies.
These housing units will be built using mainly timber and roofing material made of rubberized material or similar material on land provided by the Urban Development Authority.
Tilak Ranaviraja, Commissioner General of Essential Services and Chairman of TAFOR has during the past two weeks held a series of discussions with the representatives of NGOs, District Secretaires and Line Ministries explaining the implementation strategies and providing solutions to problems arising as the implementation program got into top gear.
The United Nations High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR) and the International Organisation for Migrants (IOM) are the two main lead agencies assisting TAFOR in co-ordinating with state agencies and NGOs identified as agencies who will fund the TAP programs in the districts.
The head office of TAP manned by experienced senior officials has been set up at the Salu Sala Headquarters at Jawatte Road, Colombo with district level sub offices set up to co-ordinate at district level.
Fifty graduates who had been given a special training and orientation in relief work at the various welfare centres have been posted to the ten Districts to assist the district level officers and NGOs in the implementation of the program specially interacting with the displaced families, district officials and the lead agencies in implementation of the program.
These fifty officers, who were briefed by Ranaviraja on the role they have to play before they were sent off, have been provided with a motor cycle each donated by the IOM to engage in the work along with mobile telephones.
Their names and phone numbers have been provided to the Lead agencies and NGOs engaged in the project for speedy action.
The lead agencies implementing the project in the respective Districts are Colombo - Caritas, Sri Lanka, Kalutara - International Organisation of Migrants (IOM), Galle - Sewa-Lanka, Matara-IOM, Hambantota - GOL - Sri Lanka, Ampara-UNHCR, Batticaloa - GTZ, Trincomalee - UNHCR, Kilinochchi-ZOA, Jaffna-UNHCR.
At the last meeting held at the TAP headquarters in Colombo on Thursday the Co-ordinator for Shelter of UNHCR Miss.
Jo De Silva said that according to the information supplied by the agencies over 4,000 temporary accommodation units have been constructed under the project. She also stressed the need for the NGOs to keep the UNHCR posted with the update of the progress and also problems they would face so that solutions could be found.
The first phase of the Transitional Accommodation Project (TAP) to provide suitable temporary accommodation to displaced persons due to the tsunami is now under way in ten affected districts.
The required administrative and operational structures have been put in place at the District level by the Task Force for Relief (TAFOR) which has been detailed by the President to implement the programme, states a press release issued by the office of the Commissioner General of Essential Services.
According to an initial report prepared by the United Nations High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR) which is the main lead agency co-ordinating with state agencies and International NGOs, over 4,000 temporary housing units have already been constructed by the respective agencies under the Project.
The project aims at providing much better temporary accommodation than the present tents and make-shift shelters where the affected families have accommodated soon after the disaster, until they are settled in permanent houses under the program launched by TAFFREN under the direction of the President.
Under the first phase of the Transitional Accommodation Project 10,000 housing units each with 200 to 250 square feet of floor area are earmarked to be erected by April 10. During the second phase another 20,000 shelters will come up before end of May this year.
The cost of these shelters (each unit costing on an average of Rs. 40,000)b will be borne entirely by International and Local Non-Governmental Organisations and implemented in co-ordination with District Secretaries and State agencies.
These housing units will be built using mainly timber and roofing material made of rubberized material or similar material on land provided by the Urban Development Authority.
Tilak Ranaviraja, Commissioner General of Essential Services and Chairman of TAFOR has during the past two weeks held a series of discussions with the representatives of NGOs, District Secretaires and Line Ministries explaining the implementation strategies and providing solutions to problems arising as the implementation program got into top gear.
The United Nations High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR) and the International Organisation for Migrants (IOM) are the two main lead agencies assisting TAFOR in co-ordinating with state agencies and NGOs identified as agencies who will fund the TAP programs in the districts.
The head office of TAP manned by experienced senior officials has been set up at the Salu Sala Headquarters at Jawatte Road, Colombo with district level sub offices set up to co-ordinate at district level.
Fifty graduates who had been given a special training and orientation in relief work at the various welfare centres have been posted to the ten Districts to assist the district level officers and NGOs in the implementation of the program specially interacting with the displaced families, district officials and the lead agencies in implementation of the program.
These fifty officers, who were briefed by Ranaviraja on the role they have to play before they were sent off, have been provided with a motor cycle each donated by the IOM to engage in the work along with mobile telephones.
Their names and phone numbers have been provided to the Lead agencies and NGOs engaged in the project for speedy action.
The lead agencies implementing the project in the respective Districts are Colombo - Caritas, Sri Lanka, Kalutara - International Organisation of Migrants (IOM), Galle - Sewa-Lanka, Matara-IOM, Hambantota - GOL - Sri Lanka, Ampara-UNHCR, Batticaloa - GTZ, Trincomalee - UNHCR, Kilinochchi-ZOA, Jaffna-UNHCR.
At the last meeting held at the TAP headquarters in Colombo on Thursday the Co-ordinator for Shelter of UNHCR Miss.
Jo De Silva said that according to the information supplied by the agencies over 4,000 temporary accommodation units have been constructed under the project. She also stressed the need for the NGOs to keep the UNHCR posted with the update of the progress and also problems they would face so that solutions could be found.
