Anuradhapura Rotary Club beat Badulla Rotary to win the T R R Rajan Cricket tournament that the Rotaract Clubs of Kandy and Katugastota conducted recently. The late Rotarian Rajan was the 51st President of the Kandy Rotary Club. The Katugastota Rotaracts won the tournament for Rotaracts with Pamunugama Rotaracts coming second.

Thusith is a product of St John's College, Panadura. He is proud of the fact that he worked his way up in the hospitality industry. After leaving school he joined Palm Beach Hotel, Mount Lavinia as a waiter in 1980. In 1988 he joined Holliday Inn as a Barman. In 1986 he left Sri Lanka to join the world's biggest and the largest hotel chain Accor Group. He worked for 14 years in Novotel and Sofitel Hotels. During his stint abroad he underwent management training and served as a Food and Beverages Manager. In 1999 he returned to Sri Lanka and joined Hotel Earl's Regency.

Thusith is married to Shani Jayasooriya and has a son Erah and daughter Angelica.

Thusith has a reputation as a hotelier with excellent public relations skills. He is also a very good vocalist. In his youth he was a member of a band. As the General Manager of the Regency he says that his intention is to follow the highest traditions of the hospitality industry by providing the best possible service to the hotel guests.

Regency recently opened a new wing with eighteen more rooms which include five standard rooms and thirteen deluxe rooms with additional facilities making the hotel capable of handling more than two hundred guests at any time. The hotel also has a new restaurant with Sri Lankan and International cuisine where the guest can watch the chef prepare the meals in an open kitchen. A new spa, mini golf course, badminton court and a spacious car park have been added to the Karaoke bar, tennis and quash courts, health club, swimming pool and the other facilities that the hotel already has.

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Kandy Struggles to Adjust to New Parking Rules

After the KMC handed over earlier this month the management of the new car park and street parking to a private company Property Finance and Investments Kandy (Pvt.) Ltd numerous conflicts have arisen between the new management and various sectional interests in town. The latter include business owners, three-wheeler operators as well as some truck owners and motorists who park for extended periods of time. The basic cause for the conflict is the sharp increase in street parking rates and the restriction in street parking space. The KMC has decided to ban parking from some areas.
Property Finance and Investments won the tender in a competitive bid some months ago. The Chairman of the company is Mr. Thusitha Wijesena who is developing the large shopping cum office complex called Kandy City Centre that is located across the road from the new car park.

The KMC first tried to run the car park on its own. The Council began to incur maintenance cost from May this year. On July 14th it started charging a parking fee. But a scrutiny of accounts indicates that it hopelessly failed to raise sufficient income from the venture. KMC spent a total of Rs 4.1m on wages, electricity, security and other maintenance for the car park over a period of three and a half months to the end of October. The gross income for the period was only Rs 2.0m incurring a loss of Rs 2.1m. This calculation does not include deprecation that also must be counted for a proper cost estimate. KMC also spent Rs 1.1m on the opening ceremony and other festivities in connection with the car park and Rs 182,000 in legal expenses to fight a court case against shopkeepers who refused to move from Torrington Square. Most important the KMC must pay Rs 2.9m per quarter to service its share of the Asian Development Bank loan that was taken to build the car park. Had the KMC continued to run the car park in the manner it did in the first three and a half months, it would have lost about Rs 600,000 each month (excluding depreciation) and would have to come up with an additional Rs 950,000 to pay back the loan. KMC made an additional Rs 200,000 in profit each month from street parking fees but that was insufficient to cover the loss from the car park. The bottom line is the Kandy ratepayers would have had to bear the loss in additional taxes or curtailed services. Mayor Kesera Senanayake told The Kandy News that the KMC was compelled to privatize the car park management due to the above circumstances.

The rates for the car park as well as street parking have been agreed upon between the KMC and the private contractor. A graduated rate is levied in the car park starting with a fee of Rs 11.50 for each of the first two hours. For street parking Rs 23 is charged for “light vehicles” (cars and vans) for the first hour and Rs 57 for each additional hour. In Colombo Street only “heavy vehicles” have to pay Rs 34 for each hour. Elsewhere they have to pay Rs 57 for the first hour and Rs 86 for each additional hour. Three wheelers and motorcycles have to pay a flat rate of Rs 11.50 per hour. These charges are levied from 5.00 a.m. to 8.00 p.m.

The Sinhala Welenda Mandalaya (Sinhala Trade Forum) together with several other similar trade chambers has taken the lead in objecting to the new parking arrangements. They object to what they call the “steep” rates, and also to the fact that for any fraction of an hour the hourly rate has to be paid.

The Three Wheeler operators object to what they describe as the “unbearable” burden that the new rates have imposed on them.

Several heated arguments and even clashes have been reported between management company employees who are deployed to collect the new street parking fees and motorists and three wheeler operators. The latter, it is reported, are not paying the specified fee and hope to negotiate with the management company for a reduced rate.

Mr. Wijesena says that he has taken a financial risk in taking on the management of the car park and street parking. He has to pay Rs 2.8m to the KMC every month. This gives the Council a monthly margin of about Rs 1.8m after servicing the loan.

Mr. Wijesena claims that for the foreseeable future he would lose money on the car park tender. He claims that he has already spent or will spend in the near future a total sum of Rs 65m in capital expenditure on “improvements to road and street lighting” (Rs30m), equipment (Rs15m) Bank Guarantee (Rs 9m) and other such items. He has budgeted Rs 7m per month for recurrent expenditure for his operation. It remains to be seen how well he does to cover his cost and make a profit.

Mr. Wijesena in an exclusive interview with The Kandy News told this news paper that he took on the management mainly because he can combine the car park management with that of the Kandy City Centre. He says that according to the original plan of the KMC no parking should be permitted on 13 of the Kandy streets. But that has been relaxed at the request of shopkeepers. Three wheelers will be permitted parking in three major stands and 162 minor stands. Vans and cars for hire too would have their own parking areas for a reasonable fee.

Mr. Wijesena says that it is not practical to have shuttle bus service to and from the car park. Using some of the existing three wheeler operators he plans to shortly introduce a three wheeler shuttle service from the car park to key points in the city for a flat rate Rs 30 each way. Soon he will also extend the present restricted hours of the car park to keep it open 24 hours a day. He also hopes to initiate a scheme that will allow shopkeepers to pay for parking for shoppers who make purchases totaling a pre-specified minimum sum. Mr. Wijesena says that it will take at least three months to get an accurate picture of the new arrangements. The Kandy News will keep a track of new developments for the benefit of our readers.

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Construction in Kandy Town Bird Park Foiled

The Kandy Police and concerned citizens foiled an attempt of a businessman to construct a milk bar in the green space located between the Kandy Central Market and the Clock Tower Bus Station. Popularly known as Kurulu Uyana which is one of the very few green spaces that still remains in the city. Over the last three decades shops have gobbled up, among other spaces, the George E. de Silva Park and the railway flower garden between the Matale rail track and the S W R D Bandaranaike Mawatha (Station Road) from the old KMC Power Station to the General Post Office.

The businessman who attempted to erect a shop in Kurulu Uyana claims that the KMC demolished his original shop to make way for the new KMC car park. He had made an application in May 2005 to the Council requesting space from the Kurulu Uyana to establish a new shop. The Council at its June meeting took up the application but deferred making a decision. In the interim the UDA Director Janaki Hettiarachchi informed the Mayor in writing with a copy to the businessman that the UDA is granting permission for the proposed structure. Based on the UDA decision the Deputy Mayor had written to the businessman in September granting permission to build the new shop.

However, the KMC at its October meeting rejected the application of the businessman on the grounds that it was not in accordance with the laws and policy of the Council. KMC sources also point out that the Council removed the shops in Torrington Square under a court order. It has no legal obligation to provide alternative accommodation, they claim. In any event a valuable green space such as Kurulu Uyana is not the appropriate place for shops, they assert.

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Mayor Vows to Fight Corruption in KMC

Mayor Kesera Senanayake vowed to fight corruption in the Kandy Municipal Council with all the power and resources at his disposal. He was responding to a complaint from the JVP KMC member Anura Gonawela who alleged that the husband-wife duo that was in charge of the Council computer unit for ten years has resigned and disappeared without a trace as people began to question their probity. It is alleged that they had sold to the Wattegama Urban Council the software package that they designed for the KMC to collect rates and water bills. They are also suspected of having erased from the computer records a water bill for Rs 21,000 that a Kandy business owed the Council. Mr. Gonawela says that various corrupt practices of the couple are now coming to light in an investigation that the Council is conducting of their work in the KMC.

Mr. Gonawela said that there was a 1,300 litre diesel fuel fraud that has come to light. That too involved the computerized data system. Computers are supposed to help maintain more accurate information and reduce corruption. The opposite appears to be the case, he said.

Mayor Kesera Senanayake thanked MMC Gonawela for being vigilant. The Mayor noted that on a previous occasion Mr. Gonawela revealed how cheaper Indian imports had been substituted for more expensive British imports to defraud the Council. Mr. Senanayake said that his administration was determined to fight corruption. He said that recently he had interdicted an official who had tried to steal cement.