The government has allocated Rs. 100 million for each divisional secretariat area to fund development projects ahead of the presidential election, with instructions to ruling party MPs to expedite their implementation, reports the Daily Mirror. President Ranil Wickremesinghe convened a meeting of ruling party legislators to address the slow pace of project execution, as noted by an MP present at the meeting. These sizable allocations are aimed at projects like road construction and irrigation canal development, primarily targeting the upcoming elections, and are managed through proposals from village development committees, culminating in final endorsement and implementation overseen by ruling party MPs within divisional and district coordinating committees.
The funding, part of the ‘Kandukara Dashakaya 2024–2033’ rural development project announced in the 2024 budget, initially involves Rs. 10 billion allocation, as per information shared by the Presidential Secretariat.