Cleanliness vital for promotion of tourism

by Surekha GALAGODA

The Defence Secretary Gotabhaya Rajapaksa at a panel discussion organised by Thompson Reuters on Friday evening said, to attract tourists and investors it is mandatory to keep the cities clean.

He said that many plans have been drawn to develop the city of Colombo and among them are abolishing the slums, release the land where military installations and government installations are located, develop the area behind the Hilton hotel together with the owners, obtain the land where low grade houses have been built, solid waste disposal as well as the cleaning of canals.

Defence Secretary said that there are over 75,000 slum dwellers and government will remove the slums to make it a slum free city while the government will offer them alternate housing facilities with water and electricity. It will benefit the slum dwellers as they will get better housing facilities while the government will get the land which in most instances are prime properties located strategically.

Lands where most of the military installations and government installations are established will be released for hotels and condominiums in Battaramulla.

Rajapaksa said that as a solution to the problem of flooding, the government together with its stakeholders have started the cleaning of canals and the canal system will be developed to be used as a method of transportation as well as for water sports.

The area behind the Hilton hotel which was declared high security zone during the conflict will be developed together with its owners. It will be an area with walk ways and a city centre.

There are areas with low grade housing. At present the UDA is discussing with the people to offer them better housing in return for the land they occupy.

Most importantly the government will have a dialogue with all stakeholders and educate them of the benefits.

Rajapaksa assured that most projects will start very soon while some have already started to make the city a beautiful clean city on par with any of the cities around the world.