evidence: Cabinet okays proposal for providing solar power to 25,000 low-income families The Cabinet had approved a proposal to provide solar power to 25,000 low-income households, Minister of Urban Development and Housing and Chief Government Whip, Prasanna Ranatunga, told journalists in Colombo yesterday (15). The Minister said the National Housing Development Authority (NHDA) had selected 11,000 partially completed houses, among 15 housing projects implemented by the NHDA, to provide free solar power under a joint project of the Urban Development and Housing Ministry and the Power and Energy Ministry.