Rs. 1 bn for developing Jaffna, Eastern universities
May 4, 2012, 10:18 pm, The Island
by Franklin R. Satyapalan
The government has set
aside funds for the development of the Jaffna and Eastern universities.
The construction of the Agriculture and Engineering faculties on a
500-acre block of land at Arivu Nagar (City of Knowledge) in
Kilinochchi, with a Rs. 500 mn grant from the Indian government and a
Rs. 500 million allocations from the Sri Lankan government would
commence shortly, Secretary to the Ministry of Higher Education Dr.
Sunil Jayantha Navaratne said.
He said the Minister of
Higher Education S. B. Dissanayake accompanied by Indian High
Commissioner in Sri Lanka Ashok K. Kanth would visit the site in
Kilinochchi on Monday, May 07 and meet the Vice Chancellor (VC) of the
Jaffna University Prof. Vasanthi Arasaratnam and Government Agent of
Kilinochchi Mrs Rupawathi Ketheeswaran in taking forward the project.
He
said that President Mahinda Rajapaksa had advised the Minister
Dissanayake not to delay the project as the area had been deprived of
development over the past three decades due to the war.
He said the Government would allocate supplementary funding for the project in the 2013 Budget.
The
Vice Chancellor of the Eastern University Prof. K. Kobindarajah said
that he was looking forward to the proposed development as peace among
the communities could be achieved through the field of education.