Catch up game for CMC

THE Colombo Municipal Council (CMC) is readying to celebrate its 50th Anniversary but the move comes at a time when the city is facing unprecedented challenges to improve its liveability and provide its many citizens with a good quality of life.   

As far back as the 5th century, Colombo served as a sea port for trade between Asia and the West. During the 8th century, Arab traders settled near the port and, in 1505, the Portuguese arrived. By the mid-17th century the Dutch had taken over, growing cinnamon in the area now known as Cinnamon Gardens, but it wasn’t until the British arrived that the town became a city. In 1815 Colombo was proclaimed the capital of Ceylon.

During the 1870s the breakwaters were built and Fort was created by flooding surrounding wetlands. Colombo was peacefully handed over when Sri Lanka achieved independence in 1948. A new parliament was built in Sri Jayawardenepura-Kotte, an outer suburb of Colombo, in 1982.

Isolated Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) bomb attacks in Fort during the 1990s caused Colombo’s major businesses and institutions to disperse across the city. These days Colombo is spreading north and south along the coast as people migrate to the city to work. The horrible days of suicide bombs are behind them and beautification programs carried out over the last few years have given “Colombians” a certain level of pride in their city. 

However, the nature of development was not inclusive adding to great inequalities that had become entrenched over the last half a century. Growing suburbs filled with affluent professionals have also seen vehicle numbers in Colombo skyrocket over the last few years, mirrored by a rapid decline in public transport. In fact the waste and transport systems are two of the biggest issues the CMC has struggled to resolve over the past few years and have brought the most displeasure from about 1.5 million people travelling daily to Colombo.

The CMC is most derided for its incompetence, ponderous policy making and bribe taking nature. Thousands of people depend on them almost daily for basic necessities but CMC workers have a reputation for being lazy, corrupt and prone to striking when they feel things are not going their way. Top officials have to routinely censure them for collecting salaries without turning up for work and the whole process has become so politicised it is tottering.  

To this mix the National Government has proposed a massive Megapolis project that will consider establishing a monorail, waste disposal system and sweeping reforms to the Colombo city and its suburbs. Still at infancy it will either give Sri Lanka and chance to take its development to the next level or atrophy already convoluted living systems. The Megapolis also has the additional challenge of unifying vying Government departments including the Urban Development Authority, Road Development Authority, CMC and Board of Investment (BOI) in a massive effort to align one plan of development. 

For better or worse CMC has been the central control point for what is arguably the most important corner of the country. Colombo continues as the centre of commerce and CMC now has to ready itself to take the capital to the next level.