Colombo: Sri Lanka plans to allocate nearly one billion U.S. dollars this year for road construction and the repair of roads damaged by floods and landslides caused by Cyclone Ditwah, a senior minister said yesterday.

According to Nam News Network, Minister of Transport, Highways and Urban Development Bimal Rathnayake informed journalists that approximately 486 million dollars have been allocated for reconstructing damaged roads, while another 486 million dollars will be used for new road construction.

The minister stated that 99 percent of the damaged roads had been rebuilt within about a month after Cyclone Ditwah struck Sri Lanka. Additionally, the Sri Lankan government will start compensating people whose houses were fully or partially damaged by the cyclone, beginning this month. Each household with homes completely destroyed will receive between five million to 10 million rupees, roughly equivalent to 32,313 U.S. dollars.