City Fathers to air grievances to President

By Malik Gunatilleke

The National Chapter of Mayors (NCM) decided to put their grievances before the President after fifteen Mayors from around the island gathered to discuss their problems at the Moratuwa Town Hall yesterday.

The meeting chaired by NCM President and Kurunegala Mayor Nimal Chandrasiri De Silva, allowed the NCM to discuss the general problems their municipalities were facing, such as funding and shortage of workers. Colombo Mayor Mohammed Imtiaz said unnecessary payments to different contractors could be halted if the issue concerning the shortage of workers was swiftly solved.

Gampaha Mayor Ajith Manapperuma brought to light that the decision by the Road Development Authority (RDA) to take down all the hoardings on main roads was affecting the income of the Gampaha Municipal Council.

“The money we received for these hoardings was our main source of income. We are losing more than Rs. 1 million a month after the RDA decided to pull down these hoardings,” he said.

The NCM agreed that they should collectively meet President Mahinda Rajapaksa and submit their list of grievances.

Apart from these discussions, Christine Noller from GTZ and Wayne Brook from the Federation of Canadian Municipalities (FCM) expressed how their organizations could help the Sri Lankan Municipalities with training and city planning. They told the gathering that their organizations were willing to work with the various councils to achieve their goals.