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by Don Asoka Wijewardena

Ranjith Cooray, Mayor of the Kotte Municipal Council, was interviewed by the Sunday Observer on the new development program and current activities of the KMC. Excerpts from the interview:

Q: I understand that you have assumed office as the Mayor of Kotte Municipal Council with new administrative strategies. What are your priorities?

A: I, with the assistance of other councillors and police, have drawn up a plan to eliminate illegal businesses and demolish unauthorised structures in the area. Illegal businesses such as selling of drugs and pot arrack has become a big problem and the Police has promised to eradicate this menace.

Q: Kotte is the capital of Sri Lanka. Are there any plans to relocate important government offices in Kotte?

A: Kotte being the national capital of Sri Lanka, it is necessary to have important government offices shifted from Colombo to Kotte. So far I have not been informed by any government authority of relocating state departments in Kotte.

Q: Are you going to reserve land for this purpose and where will the reserve lands be?

A: At the moment I am not reserving any land, but when the relocation of government offices materialises I hope to allocate lands in the Pelawatta and Bandaranaikepura area for the construction of required offices.

Q: The marshy lands are being filled by construction of high class housing estates, thereby damaging the natural water draining system. What are you going to do about this? Will KMC regulate such reclamation of marshy lands?

A: As far as I am aware, no marshy lands have been filled by housing estates in the Kotte area. I have already appointed a committee to carry out an extensive survey on marshy lands, which maintain a natural water draining system. I will ensure that KMC will control such reclamation of marshy lands.

Q: Several shopping complexes were constructed by the KMC, but they remain largely unutilised. What are you going to do about this?

A: These complexes were constructed by the previous government without any plan. As far as I am concerned some businessmen are not willing to purchase or take on rent these complexes because of high prices and I also know that the response of buyers has been negative when tenders have been called for. At the moment I am on regular visits to the closed complexes in the Nugegoda area to get first hand information on their closure. Tenders will be called for and selected fairly in order to encourage businessmen to start businesses.

Q: What are the future plans to develop Kotte?

A: Some of the future plans formulated are:

1. Elimination of social vices from the area;

2. Computerising of administration in the KMC;

3. Establishing a Mahapola National Centre;

4. Construction of a housing scheme for low-income groups and construction of a national playground;

5. Establishing a National Human Resources Data Bank and an English Institute".

To help the residents in Kotte a "Citizens help counter" has been opened round-the-clock. Residents in Kotte can make complaints regarding electrical faults, plumbing and sewerage problems, any accidents or even fights between groups to the counter on 888894 and the help counter will inform concerned parties immediately. We are also planning to place a weighing scale in all public markets in Kotte to make sure that traders do not underweight consumer goods. Local council taxes for the residents who pay Rs 100 or less will be stopped.

Q: What else can you tell our readers about the expected development programmes that have been devised?

A: Minister of Commerce and Consumer Affairs, Ravi Karunanayaka, has taken a keen interest in developing much-needed infrastructure facilities in Kotte. KMC has started to renovate the Kotte Raja Maha Viharaya, the common market and municipal dispensaries. Teaching English to children from year three up to Advanced Level is the brainchild of Minister Ravi Karunanayaka.

We expect to recruit ten teachers for this purpose and they are required to work from 3.00 p.m. to 7.00 p.m. Initially they will be paid Rs 10,000 per month and we hope to recruit about 200 teachers to teach islandwide later. The Human Resources Data Bank will be a boon to Kotte and provided comprehensive data complete with regard to unemployed men and women.

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