MILES to be expanded to all local authorities

The Management Information for Local Environment in Sri Lanka (MILES) project which was launched in 2003 as a pilot project has successfully set up geographical information systems (GIS) or environmental management systems in three selected local authorities. It will be expanded to all local authorities.

Batticaloa, Kandy and Sri Jayawardenapura Kotte Municipal Councils have set up their GISs successfully. The project is being implemented by the Sri Lanka Institute of Local Governance (SLILG) in collaboration with the City of Munich, Germany and the City of Victoria Gasteiz of Spain with funding from the European Commission.

The final workshop of the project was held last week in Colombo with the participation of the Mayor of Munich, Hep Monatzeder. Addressing the workshop Monatzeder said that technologies implemented in the MILES project have shown their own values after the tsunami disaster. GIS gave an overview of the situation in all South-East Asia and allowed to literally zoom-in to see the details about the implementing partner city in this project, Batticaloa, he said.

MILES project coordinator S. O. Z. Mowlana said that the Batticaloa MC utilised information in risk management and has mapped the disaster prone areas. The maps of the Batticaloa city provide detailed information relevant to risk reduction measures, coastal zone protection, selection of shelter sites and planning of public awareness.

The MILES project is a good foundation to develop community based risk reduction programs by integrating informal community knowledge, thereby empowering the communities to protect their lives and property in such disaster. The rationale is that, the less vulnerable people are the more informed in a disaster, he said.

Sri Jayawardenapura Kotte MC has also developed the GIS division and provides their expertise to develop the capacity of other neighbouring local authorities

The City of Munich provides the technical know-how for the MILES project with the experience of building GIS in the city of Munich. GIS is a computer system capable of integrating, storing, editing, analysing, sharing and displaying geographically referenced information.

GW