Vast development in Colombo:

City folk will vote for change at LG polls

by Uditha KUMARASINGHE

UPFA General Secretary and Petroleum Industries Minister Susil Premajayantha said that the Government is confident that the voters in the Colombo Municipal Council (CMC) area will vote for a change at the forthcoming Local Government polls as they can witness the vast development taking place in the Colombo city.

The aim of the Government is to transform the Colombo city into one of the most attractive cities in the world under a UPFA administration of the CMC within the next couple of years, the Minister told the Sunday Observer.

At present the CMC area is being developed phase by phase with the active participation of the Urban Development Authority (UDA). If the Government can secure victory at the elections and have its own Mayor, it can easily coordinate the city development program now being carried out by various Government institutions such as UDA and Land Reclamation and Development Corporation so that the Colombo city can be completely transformed to fall in line with the overall development strategy of the country, he said.

The Minister said 12 constituent parties of the UPFA are contesting the CMC under the UPFA banner. There are some political figures in our list who had run the CMC as deputies. We also have some leading candidates representing all communities and as such it would help the UPFA to attract more votes. Moreover, our Mayoral candidate Milinda Moragoda is a former Minister and he has his own propaganda campaign for the election. He will have his house-to-house campaigns and pocket meetings as well.

Minister Premajayantha said that except on two occasions, the CMC has been governed by UNP Mayors. However, the people can today witness the changes effected in the Colombo city by the UPFA Government.

Colombo will be a clean city where anybody can walk without fear even at midnight, under a UPFA administration. At present a large number of housing schemes is being built in the City.

A new Performing Arts Centre has also been set up in Colombo. Therefore, the people can see that the vast development taking place in the Colombo city. There are over 50,000 shanties in the city itself.

The Government hopes to provide them new houses in the city within the next three years. There will be more housing schemes within the city to shelter them and as such the Government does not want to chase them out of the city as alleged by the Opposition, the Minister said.