Pre-fab houses: Sumanthiran moves SC to block ArcelorMittal contract

Tamil National Alliance (TNA) Parliamentarian M. A. Sumanthiran this week petitioned the Supreme Court seeking orders to prevent Resettlement Minister D. M. Swaminathan from signing a contract with international steel giant ArcelorMittal or its agents for construction of prefabricated houses for war-displaced in the north and east.

Mr Sumanthiran also seeks an order restraining the Minister from implementing the contract, in the event that it is signed; and another to provide him (the petitioner) with all information and documentation relating to the said construction and related tender process.

He requests Court to direct that steps are taken to ascertain whether the intended beneficiaries preferred brickand-mortar houses to prefabricated steel ones; for tenders to be called for and then awarded with accordance with the housing preferences of potential beneficiaries; and for beneficiaries to receive housing in accordance with their expressed wishes. According to Minister Swaminathan, Cabinet in September 2015 granted approval for construction of 65,000 permanent houses for conflict-affected families in the North and East. A Cabinet Appointed Negotiating Committee ( CANC) and a Project Committee were set up to invite requests for proposals with confirmed financing arrangements and conditions advantageous to the Government. The Minister said ArcelorMittal had been selected.

Serious concerns were expressed by a wide-ranging group including public representatives, professionals and civil society activists on the selection of ArcelorMittal--both in relation to the suitability, durability and cost of the proposed houses, as well as the propriety of the procedure by which ArcelorMittal was purportedly selected.

As an MP, he was informed by numerous persons, including officials, in the North and East of issues that affect those that live in these provinces, Mr Sumanthiran said. People pleaded with him to take steps to ensure houses given to them are built with brick-and-mortar instead of steel.

He raised these concerns in the media and in Parliament, welcoming the decision to build 65,000 permanent houses for conflict-affected families but emphasising that “construction must genuinely and properly address the needs of the people concerned”

The petition states that Mr Sumanthiran wrote to Minister Swaminathan requesting information relating to the project and tender process. The response, which came in April 2016, “failed to properly address any of the questions/clarifications I raised in my letter dated 7 April 2015.”

In April 2016, TNA and Opposition Leader Sampanthan wrote to the President Maithripala Sirisena and Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe recommending that the Government reviews the project. He pointed to, among other things, irregularities in the tender process; lack of durability, environmental unsuitability and cost of the houses. The District Co-ordinating Committees of the Jaffna and Kilinochchi Districts passed unanimous decisions rejecting the houses, the petition states. The CANC also recommended that fresh tenders be called.

In November 2016, Mr Sumanthiran tabled in Parliament an alternative proposal by a collective of civil society agencies and persons to build brick-and-mortar houses at nearly half the cost of the prefabricated ones, using materials that were environmentally and climatically suitable, and moreover, local labourers for the construction.

That same month, TNA MPs wrote to President Sirisena and Prime Minister Wickremesinghe objecting to the prefabricated houses on grounds of climatic unsuitability, flimsy construction, lack of durability and unjustifiably high cost.

Despite all objections, the Minister publicly stated his intention of implementing the project. The petition says Mr Sumanthiran (in December 2016) wrote to the Minister requesting the Cabinet decision in this regard. He has not done so to date, only stating that he will forward the request to the Cabinet Secretary.

Public advertisements appeared in media in the North calling for applications for selection of beneficiaries for the prefab houses. In May 2017, Cabinet granted concurrence for the construction of 6000 prefabricated houses a “subject to the allocation of houses being made to the displaced families concerned, on receiving their consent for the same”.

The revised cost of a prefab house is Rs 1.8mn. It was previously Rs 2.18mn. However, houses were provided by the Housing and Construction Ministry and National Housing Development Authority for Rs 500,000; and the Resettlement Ministry has built houses in 2016-17 for Rs 800,000. These were well received by politicians and the public.

On June 28, 2017, the Minister instructed the District Secretaries of Jaf fna, Kilinochchi, Mullaitivu, Vavuniya, Mannar, Trincomalee, Batticaloa and Ampara to select beneficiaries for the prefab houses. The petition states the communities must be asked first what they prefer. The petition states that these actions by the Minister and his agents related to the proposed construction is “unlawful, unreasonable, arbitrary and illegal and constitutes an infringement and continuing infringement” of the petitioner’s fundamental rights.