New administrative city to replace Kandy

Kundasale, Pallekele to be transformed, present town to be preserved

By Shane Seneviratne and A.G. Wickremasinghe

Under a new plan for the Kandy district, Kundasale and Pallekele are to be transformed into a a new administrative city within the next two years while the present Kandy city would be preserved in all its antiquity.

All the administrative offices in Kandy as well as the Police Headquarters and the Bogambara Prisons would be shifted to the Pallekele area as part of this project.

The present town of Kandy will become a religious cum cultural and educational city, according to District Secretary Gothabaya Jayaratne.

Along with the changes, Kundasale Pradeshiya Sabha would be upgraded into a Municipal Council, Mr. Jayartane said.

The plan includes trade stalls, housing complexes and industrial zones for the new city while some existing schools in the area would be identified and made National Schools with new facilities.

The first stage of this project is to cost around Rs. 3,000 million.

Kandy is to be made an Archaeological World Heritage City and to preserve the unique nature of the city no new structures would be allowed within the town according to the new plan, Kanaka Hettiarachchi, Deputy Director, Planning of the Urban Development Authority said.

Among the other plans for the new city are a mini airport as well as an international school, a complex for the Provincial Council and private schools, she said. The extent of the new town would run to around 150 acres and work on the new project would be launched soon.

A special meeting on the project was held recently, attended by District Secretary Gotabhaya Jayaratne, Chief Secretary P.G. Amarakone and the Kundasale Pradeshiya Sabha Secretary as well as its chairperson Sujatha Wijesinghe. Others present were Asela Ekanayake and Sunil Abeywickrema.

Ms. Hettiarachchi said that in order to ease the congestion in the city a car park had been constructed costing millions, but lamented that the congestion had not eased.

Mr. Jayaratne said that though everything was orderly in the town now the problem of mushrooming illicit structures should be countered. He added that in two to three years, it would be a difficult task to even walk in the town area.

Seventeen liquor shops would be shifted out of Kandy town, he said.