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Rosy to prioritise development of Colombo’s underserved areas
With one third of the city’s population still living in underserved settlements, the new administration of the Colombo Municipal Council (CMC) will focus on improving the living conditions of people in such communities, Colombo’s new Mayor Rosy Senanayake stated.
Rosy dons the the Mayoral robe. Pix by Indika Handuwala
In an interview with the Sunday Times on Thursday (22); the day she assumed duties as Colombo’s first female Mayor, Ms Senanayake acknowledged that there were many settlements in the city where people still live in very poor conditions. “We have issues with regard to clean drinking water, lack of proper sanitation, and proper housing,” she observed. The new mayor also claimed that there had not been a proper housing programme implemented for people from such communities since the time of President Ranasinghe Premadasa. If one were to look at a house that was given to a family during President Premadasa’s time, one would see that the house is now occupied by several extended families after the passage of time, she added. As such, a new programme to develop housing facilities for such communities will be a priority.
The CMC also plans to construct at least 25 community centres which will have libraries as well as conduct classes in English and IT in underserved settlements.
Plans have also been drawn up to build three vocational training centres aimed at the youth. The new administration is also looking to set up three new standing committees within the CMC under the subjects of women and children, vocational training and preschool, disaster management and libraries. “These, I believe, will be essential especially with regard to developing underserved settlement areas,” Ms. Senanayake said.
These developments will take place under a ten year plan. As part of this plan, much work will have to be done to reconstruct an entire underground infrastructure system with regard to sewer lines, she said, adding, “the canal system, too, will have to be developed because parts of Colombo still go under water after the slightest rain.” Poor drainage and canal systems also contribute to diseases such as dengue, which has ravaged the city, Mrs Senanayake added.
“We need to come out of this. We not only need to make Colombo an environmentally friendly city, but we also need to make it a safe city for the people.”
The garbage issue that has once again raised its head in the past several weeks is also on a list of immediate priorities, she added.
Ms Senanayake claimed the problem had been created because in certain areas within the Municipality, residents were still not segregating their garbage. The Urban Development Authority (UDA) is not allowing unsegregated garbage to be dumped anymore. However, at a meeting attended by the Prime Minister, the Minister of Megapolis and CMC officials on Monday, a decision had been taken to give the CMC one month’s grace period to continue to dump waste and, as of now, municipal workers are engaged in the task of physically separating unsegregated garbage, she revealed. This however, is unsustainable and residents need to be stakeholders in the process and adhere to the conditions that the municipality has imposed as it cannot keep on collecting mixed waste, the mayor emphasised.
First female Mayor of Colombo, Ms. Senanayake gets to work
The CMC hopes that the garbage issue will be permanently resolved by next year. Work on the Aruwakkalu sanitary landfill is progressing, while several waste to energy projects are scheduled to begin operations by the middle of 2019.
Meanwhile, the new administration is looking to enhance digital services in a bid to make the CMC more user-friendly for residents and advance the “smart city” concept. Accordingly, constituents will be able to use the internet and mobile phones to obtain applications and licences, pay bills and access reports, budgets and other services.
Ms. Senanayake noted that people currently have to come to the Municipality several times in some cases to attend to matters. “People get harassed. There are also allegations of people having to pay bribes to get work done. By providing easy access through digitization and introducing e-governance, we’ll be able to eradicate a lot of the lethargy and corruption,” she remarked.
The CMC currently has some 16 different departments, and the mayor said she intends to streamline the work of some of these departments so as to create “one stop shops” where people can get their work done quickly. “I want to get the staff to multi-function. I want to revamp and strengthen the Human Resources (HR) Department. If I have to train heads and leaders of departments, even if I have to send them abroad for training, I will do so to get them to think outside the box.”
The mayor also pledged to work with the law-enforcement authorities to curtail drug trafficking and distribution. At the same time, it is also important to provide rehabilitation for those who have fallen victim to drugs and wish to overcome their addiction, she observed. “I have promised state-of-the -art rehabilitation centres conforming to international standards. If I can have two, depending on the money we get and and public support, and perhaps through a Public Private Partnership (PPP) and international aid, it will help to rehabilitate our youths and bring them back into society.”
Other priority areas that the administration hopes to focus on are improving the city’s streets, including street lighting, city beautification and developing more sports facilities.
As Colombo’s first female mayor, Ms. Senanayake feels honoured to be working with so many female members, who have now entered the CMC due to the 25 percent female quota for local councils. She pointed out that other South Asian countries such as India, Bangladesh, Pakistan and the Maldives were ahead of Sri Lanka when it came to participation of women in politics.“This (25 per cent female representation) has not happened anywhere in our history until now. I thank Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe for ensuring this quota was pushed through Parliament,” she said.
| Profile | |
| Rosy Senanayake was elected as Colombo’s first female mayor at the recently concluded Local Government Elections, where her party, the UNP, won 60 seats in the 119 member council. Ms Senanayake first rose to fame in 1985, when she won the title of Mrs. World in Honolulu, Hawaii. She was actively involved in supporting charitable foundations, and made her formal entry into politics with the UNP in 1995 when she took over as coordinating secretary to the party’s women’s wing, Lak Vanitha. In 1997, she was made a working committee member of the UNP. In 2009, she was elected to the Western Provincial Council and later became its Opposition Leader. She became a Member of Parliament in 2010 after contesting the general election from the Colombo District. She was later appointed as State Minister of Child Affairs. Ms. Senanayake has also served as Sri Lanka’s High Commissioner to Malaysia and was also a United Nations Goodwill Ambassador. |