Milinda Moragoda to Colombo voters:
Go beyond narrow politics and endorse ability
Sandasen MARASINGHE
United People’s Freedom Alliance (UPFA) Colombo mayoral candidate
Milinda Moragoda yesterday launched his policy platform entitled ‘Making
Colombo a Centre of Excellence’ that promised to restore efficiency,
transparency and accountability at the Colombo Municipal Council and to
restore the stature of the city and dignity of its citizens.
Milinda Moragoda |
Mayoral candidate Milinda Moragoda at the press conference held at
the Mahaweli Centre auditorium said that as an initial step a 12-point
100 day programme will pave way for making Colombo a centre of
excellence. He called the policy platform an evolving task and an
incomplete document which is only the starting point. He invited the
public for input of ideas, comments and suggestions via telephone and
social media platforms, such as Twitter and Facebook.
He added that the inputs from the public will be incorporated into a
revised document that would be issued prior to the election.
Moragoda further stated that though the Colombo Municipal Council was
second in stature only to Parliament, the administration had collapsed
there. He added that inefficiency seemed to be another defining
character.
The Mayoral candidate requested the voters to move beyond politics
and to cast their vote based on whether the candidate has the ability to
develop Colombo to its full potential.
He also stated that under the policy platform the front office
functions of the CMC will be relocated at six district offices and back
office functions will be moved out from Town Hall to where employees
live in the city, all connected through a wide area network.
He added that no citizen will be relocated outside metropolitan
Colombo and 35,000 housing units would be built within city limits in
the next three years to provide housing of decent quality to those
currently living in shanties.
The policy platform said well maintained pavements and pedestrian
crossings are required by vehicular traffic also promises an attractive
circulatory bus service with simplified fares.
Young people in the 18-28 age group are promised a comprehensive
program to help them establish livelihoods that will include financial
and technical assistance to establish small businesses and develop
skills needed to find gainful employment providing no room for anyone in
this age group to remain idle or unemployed. Job fairs starting with one
in the first 100 days will be organized in cooporation with the private
sector.
According to the policy platform, model community centres with gyms
as well as model municipal dispensaries would be set up and lessons
learnt from the model projects would be incorporated into larger
upgrading efforts as well.
Mayoral candidate Milinda Moragoda stated that Colombo will be
transformed in to a exemplary city.
UPFA General Secretary and Petroleum Resources Minister Susil
Premajayantha, Youth Affairs Minister Dullas Alahapperuma, Deputy
Ministers Faizer Mustapha, Laxman Yapa Abeywardena and Prof Rohan
Samarajiva were also present
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