VAT INCREASED TO PAY BACK LOANS-PM

If this was not done he said it would have led to a situation where people had to limit what they ate in order to survive.

Mr. Wickremesinghe was speaking during his visit to Monaragala on Saturday (7).

He said the government took a lot of criticism for the measures it was forced to take on behalf of the country.

“We would have had to limit the consumption of rice to two days a week if we were not able to stabilize the economy. However such drastic means would not be necessary since the government has been able to stabilize the economy, even amidst heavy criticism,” he said.

“We have been able to settle the loans we borrowed to construct the Hambantota Port. We are in the process of doing the same with the Mattala Airport. The Southern Airport would not have been an issue if it were located in Wellawaya. However, we plan to construct a road from the airport to Wellawaya shortly. The Mattala Airport would be key in carrying out this project. The government is also planning to introduce connecting flights from Mattala to Katunayake so that tourists could fly into the country and depart from Katunayake and vice versa in the future,” he added.

The Prime Minister said the country will have to prepare itself for climate change as more droughts have been predicted in the future.“we have decided to clean the tanks and reservoirs so that we could store more water in them for agricultural use,” he said. He said the rural economy of this country has suffered greatly due to the prolonged periods of drought which had lasted for four seasons.“money circulation in the villages has also reduced at the moment and we have decided to pump in more funds through the Gamperaliya Programme while we will help the entrepreneurs of this country to flourish through the Enterprise Sri Lanka Programme,” he said.

He explained that while he and President Maithripala Sirisena have the hard task of making the unity government formed between the two main parties work and carry on for the next few years the task has its challenges.“taking the government forward is a difficult task but we have to do it for the sake of the country. We

We would have had to limit the consumption of rice to two days a week if we were not able to stabilize the economy. However such drastic means would not be necessary since the government has been able to stabilize the economy, even amidst heavy criticism

compete for power in an election but we must continue to govern together and thus cultivate a new political culture,” he said. Minister of Public Administration and Law and Order Ranjith Madduma Bandara, who accompanied the Prime Minister, expanded on some of the development work to be undertaken in Monaragala and Bibile. He said 600km of roads will be carpeted while schools and other infrastructure facilities will also be developed. A sum of Rs 2 billion has been allocated for this,” he said

The Prime Minister participated in the opening of a new school building at the Mahanama National School in Monaragala, the new Sanghawasa in Pothubandana Temple in Bibile and also laid the foundation stones for new shopping complexes in the Monaragala and Bibile towns.