News
Kandy’s Arthur’s seat unseated by ungainly construction
View(s):The city’s heritage committee up in arms
By L.B. Senaratne
Kandy’s Heritage City committee has strongly protested over an unsightly construction that has come up, under the Megapolis development project, over the historic ‘Arthur’s seat’, the famed viewing point of the city. The original seat, a slab of rock, was named after a British planter during colonial days who used to regularly admire the panoramic view of Kandy city from this vantage point on the upper lake road.
The committee has also pointed out that during construction of the new viewing point the original slab of rock was smashed into smithereens. The committee’s president Mohan Samarkoon said the construction had gone ahead although they had protested when the project was initially shown to them on screen.He said it was not acceptable that such a construction would go ahead without the knowledge of the city’s residents, and especially the Kandy Municipality Commissioner.
A former Vice Chancellor of the University of Peradeniya Professor P.Gunadasa, said in a heritage city people’s participation was necessary when development projects were started and not done merely according to the whims and fancy of developers.
The construction that is coming up under the megapolis project
No more: The original seat, a slab of rock
Picturesque: View of the city and the historic lake from the vantage point
