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| Sunday, 12 May 2002 |
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Politics |  |
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Contending to be His Worship the Mayor of Colombo UNP candidate to make CMC a one-stop shop
Colombo Municipal Council will go for election on May 20 along with 16 other local bodies elections of which were postponed resulting legal battles in respect of rejection of nomination papers by Returning Officers. Elections will be held in respect of ten Pradeshiya Sabhas, three Municipal Councils and four Urban Councils on the same day. The two Municipal Councils other than Colombo are Galle and Ratnapura. The four Urban Councils are Katunayaka, Peliyagoda, Panadura and Tangalla. Kesbawa, Kalutara, Nattandiya, Mihintale, Thirapena, Hali-Ela, Moneragala, Buttala, Ratnapura and Ambagane are the ten Pradeshiya Sabhas. A date for election to North and East local bodies is yet to be decided. There are 10 political parties and three Independent groups contesting to get 53 members elected to the Colombo Municipal election at this election. With 3 nominated members the total strength of the CMC will be 56. Colombo, now the commercial capital of Sri Lanka will be attuned to face the massive economic development that is envisaged to take place with the beginning of the third of year of the 21 century. Right now it is the centre of attention of the whole country as it is the live-wire of economic development of the country. Colombo Municipal Council which is now passing through rapid change to meet the challenges in the years to come will have a new set of policy makers elected on May 20 Local Government Election. The United National Party, the Peoples' Alliance and the Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna are the three main political parties eyeing to take over the reign of Colombo, the metropolis. There are 10 political parties and three Independent groups altogether in the fray for the Colombo Municipal Council polls. UNP candidate Prasanna Gunawardene, who is confident that he would be the next Mayor of the City of Colombo told the 'Sunday Observer that he hoped to introduce changes to the administrative machinery of the CMC with the hope of making the city dweller feel that `there is a change' in the administrative set up." There are a lot of shortcomings in the management. It needs to be made efficient and within the first year of my administration I hope to achieve that change", he said. If elected at the forthcoming Colombo Municipal Council Election, he would be the first professional to adorn the Colombo city as its first citizen. " The members who are elected with me to run the city will have to work discounting time and they will not be allowed to sit idling. The members whether they are of the ruling party or not each one will have a special role to play and they would have literally to `get onto the road and work'. Neither I nor my colleagues elected will wait until those with resources come to us to work in hand in glove with us, but I would go to them, because they are the `spirit'. The private sector organisation and institutions will be mobilised to improve the condition of the city and I am very optimistic that the world will support our efforts to make this a great and a noble city in Asia", he said. Explaining what he intends doing once he assume duties as the Mayor of Colombo Mr. Gunawardene said that, his first duty would be to revamp the management structure of the Council, which is at the base of many unsolved problems of the city dweller as well as those who come to the city. There is an immediate need for the Municipal top management to review and re-identify their responsibility, duties and tasks towards a program of highly involved and sustained action to ensure that the city is clean and orderly, and the needs of the population are regularly and fairly attended to. Innovative solutions to what are too commonly and too easily written off as impossible need to be worked out. Systems to ensure that the work force is meaningfully engaged and machinery and equipment always in good order, their use optimised, and that they are not frittered away, needs to be put in place- along with mechanisms for easy supervision and monitoring. The citizens must be taken into confidence and provided with opportunities for involved participation in reviewing and resolving matters that affect their day to day lives. They should not be made to go from pillar to post within the numerous departments and offices of the municipality as well as to other institutions. The Municipality has to be their one-stop-shop. "Colombo is the singlemost resourceful city in the country. It is also the most privileged. It hosts the most affluent and educated sections of the country's population. It is home to the top most entrepreneurs, and enterprises, the headquarters of the most prestigious institutions. There are many more waiting in the wings. The challenge is to make the resources work better for the city and the country as a whole" . He also said that he wanted to harness all resources, manpower and put everyone to the wheel to do a job of work to make the city, a city of joy to everyone. The Colombo Municipality is resourceful in terms of manpower, equipment and other wherewithal. They were pivotal in overcoming the tremendous stress of rapid development in the pre-1994 era of extensive change and restructuring of the city, only to be downgraded, de-systematised, pilfered away under the pressure of the breakdown of the county's administration during the past eight years. Therefore with a new government of the UNF committed to strengthening local government under the energetic leadership of Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe, the imminent task is to maximise the effects of the existing resources to respond to the day needs of the population. In the past Colombo Municipality was playing a secondary role to national level institutions on matters of large-scale interventions in the city, acting almost wholly independent of the Municipality. It is evident that with the state agencies in dire straits following years of mismanagement and pressures for development increasing countryside, the Mayor and the Council of Colombo has to give leadership to the process of establishing Colombo as one of Asia's best cities. As the most affluent and the most resourceful city, it is also Colombo's obligation to the county to manage the impending transformations efficiently and effectively. While admitting that many things have to be rectified to make the city give a new look, he said that he would have discussion with the city dwellers at regular intervals to make them aware of the programs envisaged and to ascertain their views, opinions and advice before launching on any major project that would have a very big impact on the lives of the city dwellers. " I will also draw my attention specially to the cause of the women and street children, the shanty dwellers in the city", he added. He also said that the CMC saw rapid changes during the UNP controlling times and new technology was also introduced in redesigning and developing the roads that come within the CMC administration." New thinking has to be done to overcome the difficulty of getting the city roads going under water when it rains", he said. Striking a personal note he said that he opted to be a UNPer from the time his father late Philip Gunawardena, the leader of the Mahajana Eksath Peramuna joined hands with the UNP led by late Dudley Senanayake. He said that as a 19-year-old youth he saw how respectfully the UNP treated his father while he was working as a Cabinet Minister of the UNP Government. "Not only that", he said. " I had the opportunity of working with late President Ranasinghe Premadasa for 15 years. From the time he was Minister, Prime Minister and the Executive President, I had the privilege work with him and that experience gave me the assurance that the UNP as a very disciplined political party and the only hope for Sri Lanka. And I, a professional did not seek nomination but the present UNP leader and Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe picked me as the candidate for Mayoralty. I responded", he said. Another professional in the fray 'upgrade transport a priority'
PA Mayoral candidate for the Colombo Municipality Prof. M. Fazli Nizar is a widely travelled medical professional who has worked in several European countries. He is new to politics but has four decades of active social service to his credit. He has several ambitious plans in his agenda of work for the development of Colombo as "the Paradise City of Asia". He has plans to address the distress of the slum dwellers, provide good water and sanitation facilities, introduce a very effective garbage disposal and surface drainage system, a round-the-clock 'circle' transport system and a Colombo twin-city development system. He was optimistic of the PA's victory in the CMC elections this time round. Talking to the Sunday Observer', he said that disposal of garbage, provision of good water and sanitation to the lower middle-class and the poor were major problems to be addressed and will be given priority in his agenda. "Basically Colombo is made up of 65 percent tax payers who belong to the lower middle class and the poorer lot. They live in shanties, hovels, slums, 'Wattas', along railway lines, along the Beira Lake and along canals. They live in abject poverty. They live along drains which are overflowing sewage disposal areas clogged with garbage and dirt. These areas are teeming with mosquitoes and breeding same causing the proliferation of dengu, malaria and filaria. Therefore, this 65 percent need to have common amenities, free flow of water for them to drink, wash and bathe. They need good sanitation facilities to extricate themselves from their loaded bladders and rectums. I visited a tenement garden where they wait in queues to evacuate their bladders and rectums in the morning, standing hours. This is a sad state of affair", he observed. He further observed that employment was next in his priority. About half the population of Colombo were either under-employed or unemployed, he said. Good housing was also on the cards, he mentioned. "Accommodation adequate to compensate for the congested areas in which they live is necessary. Their children do not have good schools, nor do they have good clothing facilities. They live as street children in some areas.Amusement and recreation are not known to them. Therefore, they take to vices like gambling and drugs", he remarked. As regards garbage disposal he would introduce a garbage recycling system which would convert garbage into bio-gas and organic fertilizer which, in turn, would be economically beneficial, he stated. "Slum dwellings in Colombo is a gigantic problem but we will try to solve it. High rise flats and tall buildings are the right solution to it. But the cultural and social attitudes of the slum-dwellers should be considered before settling them in the flats and high rise housing units." Speaking about supplementing the finances of the Municipality he said that the transport system should be enhanced. There should be a circle system of transport operating round-the-clock, with 'one stage fare system' as existing in several Western capitals, he said. He further observed that about 10,000 vehicles were entering Colombo every day and a 'toll system' should be introduced to levy a tax at all entry points. Beautifying Colombo city with parks and flower beds will be given prominence in his programme of work, he said. To develop Colombo city they would seek assistance from another Western capital, under the twin-city development scheme, he stated. JVP's plans for Colombo
Instead of making a pleasant and productive city, what the previous and current government did was create many more problems and avert the development of the Colombo Municipal Council, Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna, CMC Mayoral candidate Mr. Sunil Watawala told the 'Sunday Observer' JVP Mayoral candidate said that they have the best plans to solve the major problems of Colombo city. "First of all, the CMC must have the best management. All the previous governments and the current one also did not have that and the result is still Colombo city is an unpleasant place," Mr.Watawala said. "The garbage problem, lack of a good drainage system, unauthorised constructions, shanties, unemployment problem, lack of health and other major facilities are problems faced for years and years by the residents in the CMC," he said. Enumerating a policy to have garbage in the city, Mr. Watawala suggested that the CMC could buy the garbage directly from homes and debit the dues from water bills or electricity bills. "When the project is activated, many would get jobs. When the collected garbage is recycled it will also create job opportunities and an income also. And it will also help to upgrade the health of the people. It will also stop the blocking of the drainage systems", he added. Speaking about the unauthorised constructions he also said that every human being has a right to have a home and it is very unfair to remove someone from a place without giving them a proper place to live. He also said that having a good leadership alone cannot fulfill the dream of Colombo city becoming the best place in the world. He also said that CMC receives the highest income and it is more than enough to develop the city with good management and good leadership which does not succumb to bribes. He also said that the Municipal Ordinance is powerful enough to develop the city and there was no need to wait for the Central Government. Mr. Watawala a lawyer had joined active politics while at university. He contested the 1997 provincial council and local government elections and was also in the JVP National List at the last General Election held in 2001. |
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