KMC and Kandy Business Community to Work Together

In a historic meeting the Kandy Municipal Council and the Kandy business leaders resolved to work together to achieve their vision for Kandy that would make the city “An attractive, properly planned and well developed city which practices good governance and protects the cultural heritage unique to Kandy”. The meeting sponsored by The Asia Foundation was conducted under the Local Economic Governance Program of the latter that is being implemented in fourteen different local government jurisdictions in Sri Lanka. The focus of the program is to assist local authorities, the local chambers of commerce and the business associations to plan for and undertake economic reform activities that will improve the conditions under which businesses operate. An improved business environment would ensure increased economic growth and job creation and reduce poverty.

At the Kandy meeting held recently there were 51 participants from the private sector and local government including the Mayor, all members and key staff of the Kandy Municipal Council, representatives from the Chamber of Commerce & Industry of Central Province and senior representatives from the various trade associations such as the Tamil Traders Association, Sinhala Traders Association and Muslim Traders Association.

The participants shared insights and made a frank assessment of the prevailing business environment in Kandy. They identified issues that were obstacles to achieving their desired vision for the city and developed a detailed joint action plan, identifying the steps that need to be taken to overcome these problems. They also discussed measures to improve and build the partnership/relationship between the local authority and the business community. Finally, the participants appointed a Working Group, comprising five members each from the local authority and the business community, to oversee the implementation of the action plans and to put the mechanisms into operation.

Mayor L. B. Aluvihare summing up the results of the proceedings of the two days captured the mood of all the participants when he stated “this is the beginning of a new partnership that augurs well for the city of Kandy.” He thanked The Asia Foundation for facilitating the meeting and promised to continue the effort that the meeting initiated to make Kandy a more business-friendly city.

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Kandy to Lose Rs 150 million to Galle

The former Commissioner of Archeology and one of the most prominent and active members of the Kandy World Heritage City Committee (KHCC) Dr. Roland Silva states that Kandy is to lose Rs150m that this city was originally expecting to get from a major American philanthropic organization. Dr. Silva made this startling claim at the last meeting of the KHCC. He was referring to a grant that Kandy was expecting from the Paul Getty Trust of Los Angeles, USA.
The original application for this grant was made when Mr, Harindra Dunuwille was the mayor. The money was requested to repair and restore the façades of historic buildings in Kandy.

A VIP of the town who is also an active member of the KHCC who wished to remain anonymous told The Kandy News that several of the municipal council members were not in favour of conservation work. He claimed that they were keener to construct modern building rather than preserve the old ones.

Official records of the Heritage City show that there are 52 members on the committee. However, it is reported that regular attendance is poor. In particular many of the 28 officials who are members by virtue of office that they hold often skip meetings. At the last meeting there were only 14 in attendance.

The Kandy mayor L B Aluvihare denies that there are members of the council opposed to the implementation of Heritage City projects. He says that the KMC unanimously supports the Heritage work.

Referring to the Getty funds he said that after Kandy learned of the possible transfer of funds to Galle the donor was contacted and a meeting was scheduled for May this year to rectify the situation.

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