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Sunday, 28 November 2010

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A new-look city

Colombo is fast turning out to be an eco-friendly city, compared to most other cities in the region. A few years ago, people even in their wildest dreams would never have visualised that Colombo would soon turn out to be such a clean and green city.

In the recent past, no emphasis whatsoever was given to town planning.

Consequently, there was heavy traffic congestion, air pollution and mountains of garbage in Colombo and the suburbs. Illegal constructions had the patronage of politicians of past regimes from time to time.

These makeshift constructions and indiscriminate filling of marshy lands in and around Colombo, mostly by political henchmen, caused flooding and traffic jams and posed severe health threats. A large number of politicians in the past turned a Nelsonian eye to this problem as they were more concerned about the votes of the masses. They cared two hoots about the poor living conditions of those in shanties or making Colombo a cleaner city.

The United People's Freedom Alliance (UPFA) Government, led by President Mahinda Rajapaksa, does not work merely to secure votes, but to win the hearts of the masses by providing them a secure future. Deviating from the hackneyed politics practised in Sri Lanka in the past, President Rajapaksa introduced a new culture under which the country's sovereignty and the well-being of the masses take precedence.

The President is convinced that winning the hearts of people is by far more important than grabbing votes with loads of hollow promises during election time. This was one of the reasons why he refrained from making election pledges during the 2005 and 2010 presidential elections. Instead, he introduced a novel concept of a visionary statement.

The President's Mahinda Chinthana, which he presented during the 2005 presidential election campaign, was a policy statement approved by the masses wholeheartedly. Having achieved all goals set in the Mahinda Chinthana during his first four years in office, President Rajapaksa reached out to the masses again in January 2010 to seek a fresh mandate for the Mahinda Chinthana Idiri Dakma , which attracted an overwhelming response. This resulted in the President securing a landslide victory at the January 26 elections.

Hence, President Rajapaksa will continue his policies fearlessly in the best interests of the country and its people. Upgrading infrastructure facilities is one of his prime goals and developing the capital city is one of the initial steps towards the goal of becoming the Wonder of Asia.

As Defence Secretary Gotabaya Rajapaksa highlighted recently, town planners have to play a major role in making Sri Lanka the Wonder of Asia.

Town planning should be realistic. Co-ordination and dialogue are needed to implement town planning in a successful manner. While ridding the city and its suburbs of shanties, the Government will invariably find better houses for them elsewhere. In doing so, the living standards of those belonging to the low-income groups too would also be improved to solve their housing problems.

According to 1998 estimates, around 65,000 families live in shanties and it is estimated that this number has ballooned to 75,000. In other words, half of the population residing in the Colombo city lived in shanties.

Large sums of money are needed to find alternative houses for these families and at least Rs. 2.5 million is required to resettle each family.

As the Defence Secretary had quite rightly pointed out, the time is now opportune for town planning to swing into action. The authorities need to find huge sums to construct new houses. Resistance from certain quarters could be expected as resistance to change is a human trait.

Nevertheless, people should think positively of the improved living conditions that they are bound to receive. Affording a better lifestyle for the people is what matters most and not the acquisition of valuable land, as the Defence Secretary has said.

There is a considerable number of unauthorised structures on valuable lands, which could be exploited for better business ventures. Investors could recover their investment at any time while finding a safe haven for those living in shanties. The vision of the Government is to develop all major cities and link them with an express road network. It is no easy task but the Government is determined to meet the challenge and transform cities to bring them on par with other developed countries in the region.

There has been an overwhelming response to development and beautifying ventures that are being carried out in the city of Colombo. Beautifully laid footpaths, architecturally-designed roundabouts and centre islands decorated with flowers and flowerpots are transforming Colombo into an eco-friendly city. The Colombo Municipal Council (CMC) had been headed by powerful UNP Mayors for most of the time, but nothing worthwhile was done to improve the living standards of the shanty folk. The UNP eyed only the votes of the masses, promising them everything under the sun. The UNP should take the major share of the blame for the sufferings of the poorest of the poor in the city.

The UNP mayors are no longer running the CMC. It is currently being administered by a Special Commissioner. Nevertheless, the CMC is now doing a praiseworthy job unlike in the past several decades. The Urban Development Authority (UDA) is also extending its fullest support to transform Colombo into a new-look city.

More importantly, it is not only the citizens of Colombo who benefit due to the ongoing city beautification program, but also the thousands of people who flock to the city daily for employment and other purposes.

Private sector institutions engaged in business in the city also benefit from the program immensely. Hence, conglomerates should live up to their standard as true corporates by supporting the CMC to re-design and maintain the city roundabouts, enhancing the beautification of the centre islands on the main streets.

It is the bounden duty of all citizens and those who enter the city from the outstations to pay more attention to keep their surroundings clean and actively contribute to the Government's efforts in making the capital city a hallmark of the nation.

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