Urban city centres will boost income

by Ranil Wijayapala

The prime objective of developing urban city centres is to facilitate people to have more business opportunities and increase their income generation, Defence and Urban Development Ministry Secretary Gotabaya Rajapaksa said on Friday. He said all development projects in the Colombo city are aimed at providing facilities for city dwellers, the floating population and to attract more tourists to the city.

The beautification of the city will follow the implementation of these projects.

He said land values in the Colombo city may go up with the implementation of these city development projects.

He told a function at the Colombo Municipal Council premises to hand over vehicles to the Council to facilitate the maintenance of sewerage lines under a project funded by the Asian Development Bank that many lands in the city are underutilised and they should be properly used for the people’s benefit.

He said that the East Beira Lake which is surrounded by many buildings has not been properly used due to public inaccessibility. He said that officials of the World Bank which is assisting the Metro Colombo Urban Development project said that the East Beira Lake should also be opened to the public. He said the Defence and Urban Development Ministry will complete construction work on 1,000 houses for shanty dwellers in the city by next month.