Tamil National Alliance Jaffna District MP and Lawyer M. A. Sumanthiran has sought more information from the Minister of Prison reforms,Rehabilitation, Resettlement and Hindu religious affairs minister D.M. Swaminathan on the proposed project of building 65,000 houses for the conflict affected people of the Northern and Eastern provinces.

D.M. Swaminathan & M.A. Sumanthiran

The Jaffna district parliamentarian has In a letter written to the minister stated that “While acknowledging the dire need for housing in the North and appreciating the willingness of the Government to heed to it” he considers “it important that such construction process is undertaken in a transparent manner with the present and future wellbeing of the conflict-affected families in mind” and so requires the pertinent information.

Sumanthiran MP has compiled a set of questions in his letter dated April 7th 2016 and requests answers from Minister Swaminathan within two weeks on or before April 21st 2016

The full text of the letter is as follows –

07/04/16
Hon. D.M. Swaminathan,
Minister of Prison Reforms, Rehabilitation, Resettlement and Hindu Religious Affairs,
Ministry of Prison Reforms, Rehabilitation, Resettlement and Hindu Religious Affairs,
No.146, Galle Road,
Colombo 03

Dear Sir,

Request for information pertaining to the initiative to construct 65,000 Houses for Conflict -affected Families in the Northern and Eastern Provinces

While acknowledging the dire need for housing in the North and appreciating the willingness of the Government to heed to it, I consider it important that such construction process is undertaken in a transparent manner with the present and future wellbeing of the conflict-affected families in mind.

As an elected parliamentary representative of the Jaffna district and on account of the direct impact of it on members of my constituency, I have been compelled to further examine particulars relating to the aforesaid scheme, in the light of many serious concerns raised relating to the aforementioned scheme.

Thus, I request that you kindly provide me with the following information in relation to the aforementioned housing project:

1. Particulars of the 15 bidders who pre-qualified and their respective submissions responding to the call for Expressions of Interest (EOI)

2. Criteria of the subsequently amended EOI

3. Particulars of the 8 bidders who submitted Request for Proposals (RFP)

4. RFP Criteria for ‘acceptable bid security’ and ‘confirmed comprehensive concessionary financing facility’

5. RFP documents submitted by Arcelor Mittal and EPI-OCPL Consortium in relation to the total cost of construction

6. The date on which the financial bids were opened and the list of parties who were present

7. Particulars relating to the financing arrangement with Arcelor Mittal

8. Actual costs for proposed construction by Arcelor Mittal

9. Comparative costs of construction of other bidders

10. Comparative costs of construction of ongoing scheme to construct 10,000 houses in the North and East.

11. The warranty period for proposed construction

12. Reports on the environment suitability of proposed construction

13. Reports on the durability of proposed construction.

14. Information concerning the local agent to be used in the proposed construction.

15. Information concerning implementation of the proposed construction (E.g.: will local labourers be used?)

Given the urgent need for the release of such information I kindly urge you to respond to this request on or before the 21st of April 2016

Thank you,

M. A. Sumanthiran