News
Ruwanpura Expressway project: People still paying rates for land taken over by state
By Saman Indrajith
Leader of the House and Transport Minister Bimal Ratanayake has acknowledged that those whose land had been taken over by the government for the Ruwanpura Expressway project were still paying rates.
Minister Ratnayake told parliament on Monday (10) that the MPS should help the Divisional Secretariats and Pradeshiya Sabhas to address the issue at hand.
The Minister said so when Colombo District NPP MP Aruna Panagoda asked why people had to pay rates for lands earmarked for acquisition by the state.
The Minister said that the government intended to compensate everyone by the end of this year.
Panagoda said that for the past decade, landowners, whose properties had been earmarked for takeover for the construction of the expressway, had been required to pay rates.