Boost for development in Kalutara

Chaminda PERERA

Kalutara town

No Government of the post independence era recognized the importance of addressing the development need of villages in which more than 80 percent of the country’s population is living. Having understood this situation President Mahinda Rajapaksa pledged to address this issue by giving priority to the sustainable village development through his policy frame work, the Mahinda Chinthanaya.

The Gama Neguma program is a brainchild of President Mahinda Rajapaksa for the upliftment of villagers and it is supervised by Presidential Senior Advisor and Parliamentarian Basil Rajapaksa. The rural villages in the country received tremendous development under this project and the country’s economy has also benefited by this move.

Gama Neguma

The living standards of people in the Kalutara district have seen drastic improvement with the launch of thousands of development projects at village level under the Gama Neguma Jathika Saviya development drive at village level since 2006.

The Janasabhawa comprising Government officials, religious leaders, civil society representatives and the people representing various ethnicities in the village discusses and formulate a village development plans which is implemented by the registered societies in the Divisional Secretariat Division with public participation under the supervision of respective Divisional Secretaries. This plan targeting the village’s socio economic development is entirely funded by Government through the local sources of income. According to the guidelines of the Nation Building Ministry, people in the particular area should actively be involved in these projects.

Each project should obtain at least 20 percent of public participation. The Ministry mobilizes necessary funds through the district and Divisional Secretaries for these projects. The Samurdhi animators, Grama Niladharis and Agriculture Development Officers have been instructed to closely monitor the implementation of these projects and district and Divisional Secretaries are providing necessary instructions to them time to time. The salient feature of this program is that the development projects are selected by the people of the respective villages through the Jana Sabha .

The Government approved more than 2600 projects under the Gama Neguma program for 2009 and over 2500 projects have already been completed by the authorities with public participation. Other projects in progress are expected to be completed by December 31. In addition the Government funded special drinking water supply project, irrigation schemes for this year.

The Government has reiterated its commitment to uplift the villagers and rural economy by approving the highest number of projects for livelihood development activities in the district for 2009. According to the statistics of the Nation Building Ministry, the Government has approved over 4980 livelihood development projects at village level in the Kalutara district as at 30.09.2009.

Target achieved

Over 90 percent of these projects have been completed and the authorities are set to achieve the desired target by the end of this year.

The Government has included spiritual development projects under the Samurdhi program to ensure a balanced development in the country in keeping with the Mahinda Chinthana policy framework and each Divisional Secretariat Division in the Kalutara district are implementing a considerable number of such projects a year. These programs will help boost our culture and retain the salient features of rural villages. These programs have helped upgrade the moral development among the younger generation in the district.

Rural roads

The Model village concept under the Gama Neguma program has earned plaudits from all quarters of the society. Under this project, several under developed villages in the district are earmarked for development . The Government imposes no barriers on such projects in terms of allocations.

This program is in accordance with the Government’s initiative to have a fully developed village in each Divisional Secretariat Division.

All infrastructure facilities such as pipe borne water and electricity are provided to these villages. A series of livelihood development projects and moral development projects are also launched in these model villages and the problems of the public in these villages have also been addressed. The Kalutara District Secretariat brought three villages namely Olabotuwa in Horana DS division and Paraduwa and Bothalegangoda in the Bulathsinghala DS division under this program for 2009. These villages still lack proper infrastructure facilities though the Kalutara district accounts for heavy volume of production and goods and services.

Government last year developed the Illukpotha village in the Palinda Nuwara as a model village. The village received all basic amenities such as electricity, drinking water under this program. The Nenasela centre was also opened in the village to promote the IT education of the children in the village. The Kalutara district is far ahead of other districts in the Western Province in terms of road development due to the various projects implemented in the district under Maga Neguma and Gama Neguma program.

Over 2180 road development projects at a cost of Rs. 79,088,982,636 million were implemented in the district under Maga Neguma this year. This is the first time a fund of this magnitude was set apart for a district in the Western Province for road development under the Maga Neguma.

Over 100 Kilometres of roads in rural villages were concreted in the district where a population density is 644 persons for every square kilometre and a total of 119, 394 people in the district have benefited by these projects.

In addition the Central Government and the Provincial Councils have also invested in massive infrastructure projects in the district while a large amount of funds were being spent for the eradication of terrorism through the line ministries.

A fully fledged fishing harbour was established at Beruwala to replace the fishing harbour devastated by the tsunami. Over 5,000 fishermen in the district are reaping the benefits by this project.

Southern highway under constuction

This harbour consisting of Boat repairing yard and storage facilities is using cutting edge technology to provide necessary guidance to the fishermen. The fishing boats leaving from this harbour are directed to the places where they can reap bumper harvest by the harbour using various technical methods. The harbour in association with NARA identify the areas where these fishermen could obtain bumber harvest with the help of satellite technology.

The Panadura - Ratnapura Highway via Bandaragama and Horana was widened and carpeted last year by the RDA while the UDA constructed several bus stands in the district.

Horana received a bus stand and a host of other infrastructure facilities. The Education sector has also seen drastic improvement in the Kalutara district and the Ministry has provided at least one fully-fledged building complex for key schools in each electorate.

Gama Neguma 2008

The Government launched 1,209 projects in the district benefiting over 120,000 people predominantly from the under developed Divisional Secretariats in 2008.

The Gama Neguma program which is aimed at accelerated development in the rural Sri Lanka has proved success as it increased the GDP contribution from remote areas in the country from 48 percent to 52 percent within one year since the start of program in 2006.

Special focus was laid on the dredging of irrigation canals in the Bandaragama Divisional Secretariat Division enabling more than 400 farmers to engage in farming in paddy lands which had been left abandoned for a number of years in 2008.

Incidentally, the National Wapmagul ceremony 2008 was also held in Olabotuwa paddyfield in the Bandaragama DS division. This paddyfield had been left abandoned for several years as authorities did not pay attention to dredging the irrigation canal that starts from the Olabotuwa tank in Weedagama. The cultivation of this paddyfield which is in extent of over 2000 began with the dredging of this irrigational canal last year.

This is the first time a Government gave a boost to the paddy farmers in the Bandaragama electorate. A number of self employment projects were also launched in the Bulathsinhala Palinda Nuwara and Walallawita Divisional Secretariats in 2008.

Of the total extent of 7600 acres of fallow lands, 3800 acres were brought under paddy cultivation in the district in 2008. All Divisional Secretariats in the district have succeeded in promoting paddy cultivation in their respective areas. Each DS division has identified several paddy lands which have been left uncultivated and special program was launched to encourage farmers to engage in paddy cultivation.

The Government has assured all assistance to such farmers such as the fertilizer subsidy and free Agri-Counseling services centres.

The farmers started cultivating their paddy lands after the canal system in the area were rehabilitated by the present Government which has kept unwavering faith in the enormous capabilities of Sri Lankans.

The dividends of development have reached the remotest areas in the district where most of these people are under poverty line and infrastructure facilities such as electricity and roads are not up to standards.

Industrial development

The Nation Building Ministry allocated Rs 4561.1 million for the development activities in the district in 2008 and 76 percent of it has been invested in the road development in keeping with the Mahinda Chinthanaya to provide better transport facilities to the people in the remote areas. Roads extending over 248 kilometres were either concreted or widened in the district under this program.

The next largest allocation in 2008 is for the rural electrification schemes. Over 100 schemes costing Rs 23.6 million were implemented in the district last year. A number of rural electrification schemes were also launched in the Bulathsinhala Divisional Secretariat area where infrastructure facilities are in poor condition.

A series of projects aimed at spiritual development of the people were also launched with the concurrence of respective jana sabhas.

The community through the jana sabhas has been given an opportunity to make right policy decision in terms of development in their areas.

Focus on less developed regions

A large number of livelihood development projects were launched in the Wallalawita DS area which is under poverty line. Under this program, the Government has extended assistance to the people who are involved in the self employment ventures.

Over 280 livelihood development projects were implemented in this region in 2008 and this has made a tremendous impact on the development of this region.

There were projects to help the dairy farmers in this region by extending financial assistance to erect cattle sheds for them.

The Kalutara district is now emerging from the impact of the tsunami and the people have shown indefatigable courage to face hardship and succeed.