Governor Announces New Development Projects

The Governor of the Central Province Tikiri Kobbakaduwa in an exclusive interview with The Kandy News announced a number of new development projects which when completed will make a radical difference to the lives of the people of the area.

Among these the new Pallekelle prison complex is one of the most important. About one quarter of the construction work is now completed. When ready the Bogambara Prison will be closed down and the inmates will be transferred to Pallekelle. This will free up a massive area of prime land for redevelopment.

Work is also scheduled to commence on the KMC complex that will come on top of the municipal car park. The new facility will have an auditorium to accommodate 1,500 people, a modern cinema, art gallery and restaurants. The estimated cost is Rs 800m.Tthe construction will commence shortly and will be completed in about three years. The Governor credited the KMC Opposition Leader Mr. Thilina Tennakoon for having successfully lobbied the government to get the funds for the project.

Governor Kobbakaduwa also told The Kandy News that the SAARC conference will hold some of its activities in Kandy in August. He expects Kandy to have about 1,000 foreign visitors during the conference. Peradeniya University campus will be the venue for some of the SAARC meetings. The Kandy town will be spruced up for this event. Roads will be carpeted and the KMC will expedite its program of beautification of the city.

The Kataragama Devale Square development that will preserve the religious, cultural and architectural significance of the Devale and its environs will also commence shortly.

A new town is to be built in Eriyagama. Shop owners in Peradeniya will have the option to move to the new town. A four-lane road is to be constructed from Polgahamula junction to Gannoruwa junction to connect the new town with Gatambe area.

Surangi Adds to Rosita's Beauty Studio

Beautician Surangi Samarajeeva who recently returned from the UK after obtaining a string of diplomas and professional qualifications and work experience in beauty culture is now adding value to her mother Rosita Samarajeeva's beauty culture business in Kandy. Surangi qualified in the U.K. in Holistic Therapy, Sports Therapy and a variety of other modern beauty treatments. She also management two beauty salons in that country for two years and supervised and trained new students in her chosen field.

Rosita who has a Diploma in Beauty Culture from the Grace Siam School of Beautification in Thailand opened her own salon in Kandy in 1988. Within a short period she became a much sought after beautician for services ranging from hair styling a skin therapy to bridal dressing. Rosita's Salon was particularly well known for having the latest equipment and techniques in beauty culture. She also branched out into training younger people in the art of beauty culture and many of her former pupils are now running their own salons in various parts of the country.

Surangi has now taken her mother's enterprise one step further opening a new Beauty Studio that will offer the best in beauty therapy to her clients while also training a new generation of young beauty culturists in the most modern techniques of her art and science. The new salon also caters to male clients.

Rosita who has won several awards for entrepreneurship is the President of the Central Province Women's Chamber of Small Industries and Commerce, a leadership position that she has held for the last six years to serve the women business community of the area. She is also a member of the Lions Club Senkadagala District 306C.

Councilor Asmin Marikkar Rejects Heritage Committee Policy

The Kandy News recently met with the outspoken Kandy Muncipal Councilor Asmin Marikkar (48). An old Trinitian and a successful property developer Mr. Marikkar is the father of three children. He first got elected to the KMC in 2002 and has been on the Council for the last six years. He has earned a reputation for straight talk. In this exclusive interview with Mrs. Shirley Jayawardena he expresses his rather controversial views on the Kandy Heritage City.

The Kandy News: Mr. Marikkar, we have been told that you are not in favour of Kandy being declared a World Heritage City. Some say that as a member of the Sri Lanka Muslim Congress you are not sensitive to the cultural heritage of the city. What is your response?

I don't know what you are trying to mean by saying that I represent The Muslim Congress in the Municipal Council and that I am not in favour of Kandy being declared a Heritage City.
Let me explain my position. Since Independence, in the first thirty to forty years the Muslims of this country did not independently contribute to the governance of this country. We contributed only through the major political parties. Now we have our own political party. We independently contribute to governance now and take responsibility for our decisions.
On the Heritage issue Kandy has its unique character. Even if it is not declared as a World Heritage city, the fact is that it is the heritage of all Sri Lankans, Buddhist, Hindu, Muslim, Christian or whatever. Unfortunately the very essence of that heritage has been denied by declaring Kandy a World Heritage City. The name “Kandy” itself is a contradiction of its heritage.

What is the contradiction?
When we speak of our heritage what does that mean? Does that mean the heritage of colonial rule or should it refer to our Sri Lankan Heritage? If it is our heritage Kandy is the wrong name to be used. The real name is Mahanuwara. Now you could see how the Kandy Heritage City Committee works. They have lost their perspective.

What's wrong in using the name Kandy which is now well accepted?
This is the problem with the Sinhalese. Many of them readily accept the Anglicized names Jaffna, Negombo, Galle and so on when there are perfectly good Sinhala names. Using Kandy instead of Mahanuwara as the World Heritage City name is not acceptable to me.

Is it only the name that bothers you in the Heritage City Program?
There is more that is objectionable. Please visit the Heritage office and ask them to show some Heritage buildings of Mahanuwara that were built before the British colonized the city. Then you compare them with the buildings which they call “Heritage.” You will realize that 95% of the so called heritage buildings are buildings of yesterday.

What do you mean by saying “buildings of yesterday?”
Mahanuwara history can be traced back to several hindered years before the British came. In the tooth relic, the Maligawa and its surroundings, we could proudly state that we have a living tradition, culture and historic buildings. Even the Kandy streets and roads could be traced back to the times of the Sinhala kings. The city landscape, Kandy Lake and Udawatta Kalae are also of similar origin. In them to bring in views to suit their fancy without thinking of the reality of the city.

Isn't it the Duty of the UDA to see to the development of the city?
It is not only the UDA who gets involved with the city planning. The Cultural Triangle is another. Now we have another new committee consisting of Council representatives and representatives of businessmen and traders and backed by the Asian Foundation. The new outfit is supposed to promote good governance. I find that none of these organizations serve Mahanuwara in a meaningful way.

Let me put it this way. Have they got a proper city program to be implemented and also planned for the city for, say, the next 20 years and beyond? They have not. They never work as a team. Each one has a different view and they try to implement their decisions ignoring the others.

Is the public aware of this situation?
I don't think so. The media has not properly highlighted these issues.

Do you mean to say that the UDA, Cultural Triangle, Heritage Committee and other agencies and departments are not doing their job?
Yes, that is what I say. Mahanuwara is a small city but very self-sufficient. In this city within walking distance you find almost everything essential for life: market, hospital, doctors, schools, government service agencies, cinemas, hotels and almost everything else. We must try to maintain and preserve these institutes and establishments rather than transfer some.
We have to agree that Mahanuwara cannot afford to have any more shops, and population. There is no space. It is bursting at the seams. But what are our city planners doing? Instead of maintaining and persevering, they are trying to remove some activities that are essential for the life of the city and introduce further development to the city.

What's wrong in introducing new ventures and development to the city?
I say do not give a shark's meal to a sprat. If we try to do that, it will split and end up with disaster. Kandy is getting crowded and cannot take any more. Roads are congested. The city is grossly overcrowded. Pavements are overcrowded. Air is polluted. The city planners are doing nothing. Only thing is they have seminars with lunch or tea have good day out at the ratepayers' expense.

There is no need to introduce any more new things to Mahanuwara. What we have is more than enough.

Do you agree with the proposals to move the Bogambara Prison and the Kachcheri (District Secretariat) to Pallekelle and the major bus stands out of the city centre?
No, I do not. Kachcheri is a vital part of the Kandy district administration. It is also an essential part of the city. It should remain in the city.

It is true that the Bogambara prison occupies a few acres of valuable land. But the up side is the prisoners do not attract any traffic to an already congested city. The proposal to replace the prison with shops and other such developments will make congestion worse. However, I will support, say, moving the main bus stand to the land where the prison now stands.

Do you support the construction of the new town hall and auditorium on top of the KNMC car park?
We need a town hall and an auditorium cum cultural centre. But not in the proposed location. It will again attract more traffic to the city centre. My plea is that we must stop over-crowding Mahanuwara.

Ten Million Rupees of Equipment from Rotary to Kandy Eye Hospital

The Vice President of the Rotary Club of Kandy Shamil Peiris has announced that
his club with the assistance of International Resources for the Improvement of Sight (IRIS) and Rotary International has donated to the Kandy Centre for Sight a Zeiss Laser Delivery Unit and a Fundus Camera costing almost Rs. 10 million. Consultant Ophthalmologist Dr. Tissa Senaratne says that the equipment will enable the Centre to diagnose and perform surgery on people with diabetic retinopathy. Also included in the donation are 170 magnifying glasses and telescopes to reduce the cost of treating the poorer patients.

Diabetic retinopathy - damage to the blood vessels in the retina - is the most common eye disease amongst people with diabetes and is the fourth leading cause of blindness worldwide. All people with diabetes are at risk and should have their eyes examined at least once a year as early detection and treatment of diabetic retinopathy can halt blindness in 60% of all cases.

In Sri Lanka, an estimated 900,000 people over 40 years of age have type 2 diabetes Over 3,000 patients will be treated annually in the Kandy Centre for Sight utilising the equipment that have been donated.

Manoj and Chathurika Display their “Burn Art”

Manoj Jayasinghe who is a Grade 11 pupil at Vision International School, Kandy together with his sister Chathurika recently exhibited a collection of burn art work exclusively done by them at the D.S. Senanayake auditorium in Kandy.

Burn art is popular among the younger generation in the US. This form of art is not very common in Sri Lanka as it needs special eclectically operated wood burning tools. Images are created on a flat wooden panel by burning the wood. Using different burning tips various shades and shapes of the drawing can be created.

Several Tourist Hotels and business establishments in and around Kandy have been impressed by the exhibits and have purchased many of them. Most of the art work depict sceneries of natural wild life of Sri Lanka.

Manoj and Chathurika acknowledge the help that they got from the Teacher in charge of Art at Vision International School, and their parents to organize the exhibition.

A large gathering of school children from Kandy as well as members of general public visited the exhibition.

Manoj Jayasinghe is contactable on e-mail manoj_keet@yahoo.com

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Non payment of taxes and dues impedes KMC

The Development Committee which is coordinated by the Central Province Chamber of Commerce and Industry consist of representatives of the KMC and the Kandy business community. The most senior officials of the KMC including the Mayor, Deputy Mayor and the Commissioner as well as the top leadership of the Chamber sit on the Committee. It was recently formed under the Local Government Good Governance Project that the Asia Foundation (Colombo) has initiated.

The Chief Minister of the Central Province has promised, at the request of some MMCs, to double the salaries of the KMC employees. To meet this commitment the Chief Minister had also promised to give the full central government grant for 2007 to the KMC. But that too has not happened, KMC officials told the meeting.

The business representatives who were present at the meeting agreed to organize a separate meeting to which Kandy business owners would be invited to discuss tax payments. Municipal officials hope to use the opportunity to explain to the business owners the importance of paying taxes and other dues such as water bills in a timely fashion so that KMC in turn would be able to finance an adequate level of services..

The meeting also took up the perennial issue of solid waste disposal. Some business leaders present requested the KMC to study the Gampola Urban Council that apparently has an efficient solid waste disposal scheme. Responding to a complaint from some members of the committee that the Council failed to provide any services to those living on the periphery of the city, KMC officials pointed out that key services such as water and road repairs were provided. But they admitted that solid waste collection in some parts of the KMC jurisdiction was erratic. They attributed this to the shortage of compactors. They also conceded that the compost barrel system that the KMC introduced as a partial solution some months ago also did not function properly.

Some business representatives pointed out that when the roads were repaired for the last Perehera Festival the road crews had carelessly covered some of the fire hydrants. KMC officials promised to rectify it.

The KMC proposal to standardize business signboards was also discussed. The business representatives agreed to cooperate with the Council on the proposed scheme but wanted the Council to bear in mind that the purpose of having signboards was to inform the public of the nature of the business.

Council officials promised to address the problems that were highlighted at the meeting. They also appealed to the business community to educate their members on the constraints that the KMC faced and to request them to cooperate with the Council.

The Deputy Mayor Suminda Wickremasinghe and the Muncipal Commissioner W.A.R. Wimalasiri thanked the representatives of the Asia Foundation who were also present at the meeting for the initiative that they have taken to establish the Development Committee.