Indian high commissioner Mr. Gopal Baglay and secretary to the state Ministry of rural housing Keerthi Ranjith Abesiriwardana yesterday (18) signed four MoUs towards streamlining the implementation mechanisms of ongoing model village and three Gram Shakti housing projects.

These MoUs would pave the way for releasing installments for the houses as advance payment enabling quicker implementation of the projects.

A high commission statement said 2,400 houses for homeless, low income families across the island are being constructed under the four housing programmes at a total cost of Rs. 1.2 billion.

Also, 600 houses under the model village housing project are evenly spread across the 25 districts of Sri Lanka, while 1,200 houses are being built under two Gram Shakti housing projects in the southern province and an additional 600 houses in the northern province.

A total of 96 houses have already been completed under the four programmes.