Colombo, Feb 19 (IANS): India has launched the construction of houses for the Indian origin plantation workers across six different provinces in Sri Lanka.

The construction will be carried out under the Indian Housing Project (IHP) and around 1,300 houses will be built for 10, 000 for Indian origin plantation workers.

Sri Lankan President Ranil Wickremesinghe on Monday virtually launched the project along with Indian High Commissioner Santosh Jha.

In May 2017, during his visit to the plantation regions of Sri Lanka, Prime Minister Narendra Modi had announced Phase IV of IHP.

Along President Wickremesinghe on November 2, 2023 the foundation stone for the project was laid by Indian Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman during her visit to India’s southern neighbour.

“Government of India's total commitment under the flagship IHP currently stands at 60,000 houses. In the first two phases, 46,000 houses were covered in Northern and Eastern Provinces,” Indian High Commission in Colombo said.

It said that under Phase-III at least 4000 houses being built for plantation workers are at the verge of completion.

Indian origin Tamil community and plantation regions have been of specific focus under the government of India's development cooperation partnership with Sri Lanka.

The overall portfolio of grant projects alone stands at more than SLR 30 billion or nearly Indian rupees 8 billion.

In addition to the remaining 14,000 houses, India launched another landmark project which is the construction of a multi-specialty hospital in Dickoya in the Central upcountry.

Marking the 200 years of arrival of the Indian origin Tamil community to Sri Lanka, in July 2023, a multi-sectoral package of SLR 3 billion was also announced by Prime Minister Narendra Modi during the visit of President Ranil Wickremesinghe to India.