THE Institute of Town Planners Sri Lanka must do away with orthodox thinking and come up with quick solutions as demanded by the current situation, said Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapakse.

Planners must assist to rebuild affected communities to sustain their livelihood, but not limit their efforts, to technicalities, he said as the chief guest at the inaugural ceremony of the 2005 annual sessions of the Institute of Town Planners at the World Trade Centre on March 4.

The theme of this year's session was 'Aftermath of Tsunami- A Window of Opportunity for Planned Development'.

Urban Development and Water Supply Minister Dinesh Gunawardena and Colombo Mayor Prasanna Gunawardena were the guests of honour.

Commonwealth Association of Planners President Prof. Cliff Hague in his keynote speech, emphasised the value of planning specially in the post-tsunami context of redevelopment, a press release said yesterday.

Minister Gunawardena requested the planners to take into consideration the urgent need for planned development to remedy the prevailing critical situation in the country.

He said: "whatever we do, must be done for the benefit of the people who should not suffer any longer." At the technical sessions at Hikkaduwa on March 5, a number of speakers presented papers on various aspects of post-tsunami reconstruction.

At this one day workshop, participants after discussing the papers presented, arrived at a set of recommendations to be presented to the Government.

Participants at the workshop also identified a number of priority projects to be forwarded to the Planning Institute of Australia for funding considerations.

The annual session and the workshop was held in collaboration with the Planning Institute of Australia, the Foundation for Development Cooperation, Australia and a number of local firms.