Courtesy The Daily Mirror

Colombo, Jan 22 (Daily Mirror) – Public Administration, Home Affairs, Provincial Councils and the Local Government Minister requested that high priority be given to renewable energy in order to reduce the recurrent costs of the local government bodies in 2024.

He made these comments while participating in the progress review meeting of the Domestic Credit Fund Board for the year 2024.

“High priority should be given to the government’s programme of optimal utilization of solar energy, and to increase the IT literacy of the rural youth community, efforts should be made to provide loans by finding possibilities for creating libraries and IT centers,” the Minister said.

“It was also revealed that Rs. 1,115 million have been allocated for this purpose in 2024, and plans have been prepared to implement the related grant proposals of 50 local government bodies. It is clear that the local government is highly interested in obtaining loans through this institution because the loan is given by this fund at a lower rate than the interest rate of commercial banks,” he said.