People-friendly service to be improved:

Pura Neguma model towns in 108 local bodies

By Ranil Wijayapala

Local Authorities across the country are the most-closest service delivering mechanism of the people as it is the authority responsible even to handle the garbage bin in the households and also the approving agency of their housing plans and other construction. Apart from that they are also playing a key role in providing the key infrastructure facilities in the urban centres which has become the hub of the community living in the respective Local Government Authority areas.

Brisk business opens up

However, many of the Local Government bodies in the backward areas in the country where the development has taken place in a lesser pace, the Local Authorities have failed in providing required infrastructure and the services to the public. Therefore, these local bodies are becoming more and more unpopular among the people as they are not in a position to deliver the required services to the satisfaction of the people.

The Provincial Councils and the Local Government Ministry have stepped into assist these local government bodies to enhance and improve their infrastructure facilities under the Pura Neguma program.

"What we intend to do under this Pura Neguma project is to improve the infrastructure service in selected local authorities", explaining the objectives of the Pura Neguma program initiated by Provincial Councils and Local Government Ministry, its Secretary R.A.A.K. Ranawake told the Sunday Observer.

About 108 local authorities in seven provinces except in the Northern and Eastern provinces have been selected to implement the infrastructure facilities in those Local Government bodies.

"The Northern and Eastern provinces do not come under this project as the Economic Development Ministry is having a separate program for the Local Government bodies in the North and East", Ranawake said.

Improvement of the Local Government Infrastructure and Service Delivery system, Local Government Policy Reforms and Capacity Building Support and Project Management and Administration Support are the three identified components of the Pura Neguma project.

"The project is funded by Asian Development Bank through a loan facility of 59 Million USD with government contribution of 9.77 USD. Therefore the total funding available to this project is about 68.77 million USD", the Secretary said.

"We have selected many backwards Local Government authority areas under this project which are mostly located in areas with agriculture economy and also which are away from the main cities in the country", he said.

Local bodies such as Teldeniya in Kandy district, Rattota in Matale district, Maskeliya in the Nuwara Eliya district, Mahailluppallama in Anuradhapura district, Giribawa in the Kurunegala district, Madampe in the Puttalam district, Ayagama in the Ratnapura district, Dehiowita in Kegalle district, Thawalama in the Galle district have been identified for this project considering the geographical location and the infrastructure development requirements.

"Many of the agricultural products of the rural population flow to the markets through these towns and these towns are playing a role of a connector to the community in these Local body areas.

Therefore we thought that we need to improve the infrastructure of these small towns to facilitate the people who are arriving at these places to get their works done", he said.

Infrastructure facilities such as weekly fairs, market places, parking areas, public conveniences that can facilitate the people when they come to the cities to get their services done will be improved under this project.

"We want to ensure that people feel free and comfortable when getting their services done at these city centres", he said.

But the development of infrastructure in these towns will not be done in a traditional way. The Urban Development Authority and Physical Planning Department are involved in planning these infrastructure development projects in more modern and effective manner.

"When planning these cities we are taking into account the floating population to the city, the number of vehicles coming to that town, the geographical location of the town and various other factors when planning a building or any other facility to that particular town", he said.

"We are improving only the most required facilities in these towns in the most efficient manner. We are not investing money to build market places that are becoming abandoned places within a few months after construction. We are trying our best to maximise the service delivery of that place without wasting funds unnecessarily to construct huge buildings", the Secretary said.

"When designing Pradeshiya Sabha buildings, markets, weekly fairs or any other building, much priority was given for the structural design of the project and we are trying to get them done in Par with the latest design available locally and internationally to have a good appearance to that facility. We make sure that the design of that facility is not outdated and it attracts the people", he said.

Keeping these towns clean is also given much priority under this project and solid waste management projects are given top most priority. "The project assists these local bodies for better solid waste management system by providing them with tractors water bowsers and waste bins. Apart from that the problems relating to the dumping sites will be addressed under this project to make their solid waste management projects more efficient", he said.

Development of drainage systems, providing parking facilities with resting places for the drivers, comfort centres for the public coming to the city to have a rest while attending to their work and having shrub jungles within the town to make it more clean and fresh will also be given prior attention under this project.

"When planning buildings whether it is a weekly fair, bus stand, market place or any other building we are trying to make sure that these places are energy efficient places by making use of the natural light and ensuring fresh air coming into them", he said.

Even the public conveniences will also be constructed with better access to the people and with modern facilities.

Under this project Rs.50 million will be allocated for each 108 Local bodies selected for the project. "This is not sufficient, but we are getting funds from other funding sources also to develop the infrastructure in these towns parallel to the 'Pura Neguma project'.

"So we can see that these towns are becoming more efficient ones and we are trying to make these cities model cities that can set examples to the other towns in the country", the Secretary said.

The second component of the project aims at Local Government Policy Reforms and Capacity Building Support.

"Under this component of the project we want to see that the Local Authority offices are more comfortable and people friendly ones. Therefore, the front offices of these local bodies will be improved to deliver an efficient service to the public seeking their services", he said.

This will be done by having seats for the people to sit, the required forms available to them at one counter and having some newspapers and entertainment facilities for them to read.

"Accordingly we are hoping to improve these places to get the people's work done from one counter," the Secretary said.

In addition 25 Pradeshiya Sabhas have been selected under this project to improve computer data base for the service delivery system. "That is to give a quick, correct, fast and quality service to the people. For that we are providing required computers and computer training for the officers to maintain these systems", he said.

"We also get the involvement of the Provincial Council in this process. When selecting the projects under this program to get their resources used for the quality assurance of the projects and for the technical evaluation, approval of designs, estimates and bid documents and Bid Evaluation Reports", he said.

This can reduce the spending for these projects by using the existing resources of the Provincial Councils. "When there is a saving we can make use of that for another sub project", he said.

When these sub projects are at the implementation stage they will be subjected to public auditing system. The details of the sub projects will be displayed publicly along with their details including the name of the contractor and the material to be used. Telephone numbers will be displayed on that boards enabling the public to make any complain in this regard regarding misuse or adulteration of the quality of the materials used.

"We are mentioning the starting date and the ending date of the contract as the contractors used to delay the contracts for no reason though they undertake the contract hurriedly", he said.

Under the third component of the project equipment required for the maintenance of the facilities, training for the people to maintain those systems will be provided.

"To get an efficient service out of these facilities we have to maintain them properly. Therefore this component of the 'Pura Neguma' project is also important he said.

The Local Government Members of the respective Pradeshiya Sabhas are participating in selecting the project and also supervising the implementation process.

The Ministry of Local Government and Provincial Council are acting as the Executive Agency of the Project by establishing a Project Management Unit (PMU) headed by project director to oversee and coordinate the overall implementation of the project.

At provincial level the project is coordinated by Sub Project Co-ordination Units. The SPCUs are headed by the Commissioner of Local Government who is supported by Engineering and other necessary staff. The SPCUs work closely with the selected Local Authorities of their Province for smooth implementation of the Project.

At the central level the Project is supported by Project Management Consultants (PMC) to advice the Project Authorities on project implementation and capacity building of the Project and other concerned staff. The Local bodies are provided for the required support of preparation of designs, estimates, construction , drawings and bid documents through Design and Supervision work. A National level Steering Committee (NSC) is established to oversee the implementation and take policy decisions on the implementation of the project. At provincial level Provincial Steering Committees are set up to oversee the implementation .

"We have finalised identifying the sub projects under this and now in the process of calling tenders to select contractors. Tenders have already been called for the implementation of sub projects in Ruwanwella, Haldummulla, Pannala, Mirigama, Panvila, Kimbissa, Bingiriya, Polpithigama and Giribawa Pradeshiya Sabhas", he said.

"We are planning to start at 25 percent of the sub projects out of the 500 sub projects identified for the implementation by September this year and all the projects by the end of this year. So we are hoping to complete all the projects by mid 2015 in a collective effort with Provincial Councils, Local Authorities Environment Ministry, Plantation Ministry, Land Ministry, Water Supply Ministry and other relevant agencies such as Urban Development Authority, creating model towns in the 108 local government bodies that can set examples for the other local bodies", the Secretary said.