HC Deb 28 January 1998 vol 305 cc291-2W
Mr. Simon Hughes

To ask the Secretary of State for International Development what assistance is currently being given to the peopleof Sri Lanka. [23876]

Clare Short

We provide around £6 million of bilateral Development assistance annually to Sri Lanka. The programme focuses on Poverty, Education, and the Environment.

Our work in poverty reduction centres on relief and rehabilitation assistance to families displaced by the civil conflict in the North and East who are now either living in refugee camps or living with other families in cramped conditions with little or no government service provision.

In Education, we are helping improve the quality of primary education on a national basis. The support includes a high level of collaboration with the World Bank and the Ministry of Education in order to ensure effective targeting of assistance and to maximise benefits.

We are also assisting in a three year project to develop the Environment and Forestry Conservation Division (EFCD) of the Mahaweli Development Authority Sri Lanka as an environmental and development agency.

We recently started to improve the efficiency of the existing sewerage system in Colombo and undertake reform of Water and Sewerage Management.

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