Colombo – IOM, with funding from the Australian Agency for International Development (AusAID) and in close cooperation with the Sri Lankan central and local government authorities, has handed over a newly reconstructed irrigation system and embankment in the conflict-affected northern Sri Lankan district of Vavuniya.

The project, which was handed over to the Department of Agrarian Development of the Ministry of Agrarian Services and Wildlife, will help 155 newly returned and resettled farming families in the mainly Sinhala village of Kokweliya to restart their traditional agriculture-based livelihoods.

The LKR 13 million (USD 120,000) project, which is part of a 3-year IOM community development programme in Sri Lanka's Northern and Central Provinces, will enable controlled irrigation for paddy cultivation in both wet and dry farming seasons, reduce flooding of farmland and provide access to neighbouring villages.

"The beauty of this project is not just the economic benefits that will accrue to the local communities.  It is also very much about building bridges between formerly displaced Sinhalese and Tamil communities who both suffered during the 27-year conflict," said IOM Sri Lanka Chief of Mission Richard Danziger.

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For more information please contact: Udara Soysa, IOM Colombo, Tel: +94115325300, E-mail: usoysa@iom.int