Traffic congestion in Kandy city

Adversely affects economic, business and social life:

The facility of smooth traffic movement is an ornament as well as an asset to any city. Providing this facility is the responsibility of city fathers and law enforcing authorities. Primarily, the commuters and the drivers are the people who are inconvenienced when there is no such smooth system

Dr Sudath GUNASEKARA

Smooth movement of vehicles is affected by many factors. Among them the following could be identified as the most important. Increase in the number of vehicles coming in to the city, physical limitations of urban morphology, haphazard and poor urban planning.

The lack of overall traffic planning networks to ease congestion within city limits, lack of forward planning to suit increasing needs of a city with changing time, unsatisfactory conditions of the roads, absence of an efficient and effective traffic control system by the Police, failure on the part of the Municipalities to maintain the roads with proper road signs and facilities like traffic lights, parking bays, pedestrian crossings, bus stops, bus stands and car parks in proper location, lethargy and lack of coordination between the authorities like Municipalities, Police and the Central Government, non compliance of traffic law and carelessness on the part of drivers and non cooperation by the business community and the public worsen the situation.

Apart from the general increase of vehicles in the country things such as heavy concentration of institutions like schools, hospitals, government institutions within a city where large number of people daily come to get their business done also increase the traffic inflow and it makes things even worse. Besides the inconvenience for commuters and the drivers this type of congestion also adversely affects the city’s economic, business and social life. The sum of all this makes city life miserable for everybody.

Cultural city

Kandy is the second largest city in the country. It is also the most important living cultural city in view of the presence of the Temple of the Sacred Tooth and the Buddhist Headquarters of Malwatte and Asgiriya within its precincts and also the Annual Esala Perahera and many a monument of medieval cultural heritage. It has had a Municipality from March 20, 1866. The Kandy Municipal Council was established under the Municipalities Ordinance of 1865.

The inaugural meeting was held on March 20, 1866. The Town Hall and the Office Complex was installed in the present premises (Dunuwille Walawwa) in 1870. It had been functioning under an elected Mayor since 1939 as it was under the GA, CP until then.

The first elected mayor was Sir Cuda Ratwatte. Presently the Council consists of 24 members. The Governing Party (UNP) has 14 and the Opposition 10. Since Independence in 1948, it had been continuously run by the UNP up to date.

I do not know whether there had been Mayors in the past who had left any significant mark in their achievements. But to my knowledge I had not seen any in the recent past. So this factor has definitely been a major bottleneck in improving the traffic arrangements in Kandy.

I have spoken to many authorities on this subject for the past so many years. But only one person, that is Nimal Mediwaka who was DIG some time back accepted at least my short term suggestions I made as the Chairman of the Mahanuwara Senior Citizens’ Movement and implemented them for three days in the Dalada Veediya.

To be continued