Canada funds refurbishing of Galle MCs finance dept

Richmond Wijesekera Bentota group correspondent

There has been a long history of ties between Canada and Sri Lanka and consequently a large number of Sri Lankans have chosen Canada as their second motherland as well as a place for foreign employment.

Due to this relationship the Government of Canada has sponsored welfare development projects. This sponsorship has been very helpful to the development of infrastructure in a developing country like ours said Chief Minister Southern Province Shan Wijayalal de Silva.

He said so at a meeting held at Galle MC after opening the refurbished Finance Department funded by the Government of Canada through the Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA) and implemented by the Federation of Canadian Municipalities (FCM).

The Chief Minister Shan Wijayalal de Silva also said: “The citizens of Sri Lanka have a great faith in the administrative structure which functions on democratic social welfare activities.

Therefore even today people have more faith in the State sector than in the private sector. In this process, the local government councils have become very significant because they are directly involved in the development and welfare at the grassroots level.

He said the Southern Province consists of 49 local government bodies. The main responsibility of the administration of these institutes are assigned to the provincial councils. Even environment friendly recycling programmes, disaster management programmes are being implemented through provincial councils deviating from the traditional system.

The Chief Minister said I would like to make use of this opportunity of extend the gratitude of the Prime Minister, present government, the people of the S. P. to the province minister’s party and the High Commissioner with her staff for their cooperation and aid provided to empower our provincial councils.

The High Commissioner of Canada Angela Bogdan said: MCP has been assisting Local Authorities in the five districts of Ampara, Batticaloa, Galle, Matara and Trincomalee since 2005 to restore Local Government services such as solid waste management, medium term planning, surface water drainage and Library services.

MCP is an initiative of the Government of Canada with the funding provided through the Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA) and implemented by the Federation of Canadian Municipalities in partnership with the Minister of Local Government and Provincial Councils.

Secretary of the Ministry of Local Government and Provincial Councils, Cashien Herath, the Head of Aid of the Canadian High Commission Charles Parker, Mayor of Galle Kelum Seneviratne, Galle Municipal Commissioner Asoka Siriwardane, also spoke while MCP District Coordinator U.G. Ekanayake, Programme Officer (Knowledge and Information) Miss. Nirmi Vitarana, Chief Secretary S. P. S. Samarasinghe, Asst. Commissioner (Finance), Accountant Upali Dodangoda and Galle MC Members participated.