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Sri Lanka

Sri Lanka president vows to finish tsunami rebuilding by year end

COLOMBO, May 31, 2006 (Xinhua via COMTEX) -- Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapakse said here Wednesday that the reconstruction process of the homes destroyed by the December 2004 tsunami disaster will be completed by the end of this year.

Addressing a Japanese delegation, Rajapakse blamed the non- governmental organizations, both foreign and local, for failing to complete the reconstruction of the homes destroyed along the coastal belt in time.

The Dec. 26, 2004 tsunamis killed about 40,000, left over one million homeless and a reconstruction bill of over 1.6 billion U.S. dollars in Sri Lanka.

Those who were left homeless along the coastal belt say that reconstruction of little over half of the homes destroyed by the tsunamis had so far been completed.

The World Bank early this month said that worsening security situation due to an upsurge of violence has also slowed down the reconstruction process.

Only about 15 percent of the reconstruction has been completed in the north and east compared to 85 percent in the rest of the country, the bank said.

The non-governmental and volunteer organizations which undertook rehabilitation work say that various administrative bottlenecks have stood in the way of an expeditious reconstruction effort.