Muzammil to build his “dream city”

By Ashwin Hemmathagama

The Budget of the Colombo Municipal Council (CMC) for 2013 in accordance with Section 213 of the Municipal Council Ordinance was tabled yesterday by Mayor A.J. Mohamed Muzammil, seeking approval from members to spend Rs. 9,212.6 million in developing the city while showcasing a minimum revenue estimate of Rs. 9,213 million.

Mayor Muzammil, who was the candidate from the United National Party, was elected during the latter part of 2011 to govern the Colombo City, which runs over an area of 3,731ha with a population of 555,031.

Yesterday’s budget happens to be his second and was identified as being “better than his first budget and prepared with the active participation of all members of the CMC including the opposition as well as the general public, obtaining views and proposals to suit the needs of the city.”







According to Muzammil, he has achieved his target “successfully by applying a concept of co-existence in political affairs and making funds available to maintain existing resources of the council and to commence new projects,” which will create his “dream city”.

“I emphasise the major task before us is to transform the city to become a more environmentally-friendly place for our citizens, and people who visit it daily, from parts of the country for business in a friendly atmosphere, and to allow citizens to lead peaceful lives in a healthy environment. The task is not easy, and we must strive hard to achieve it by working together as a team to lead our city to stand among the best cities in the world.







The path we have to trek is not easy to accomplish our objective. Rs. 3,528 millions of taxes paid by city ratepayers and the three per cent of annual increase are not sufficient to meet the expenditure. Also it is not our policy to harass the ratepayers by increasing the tax percentage. But we will be able to accelerate the development process, which would increase the property values, and thereby increase the annual values of properties, which will increase the council’s revenue base. In my view, we will be able to increase the council’s revenue by imposing taxes on properties, and by all of us making a joint effort. It was informed that an amount of Rs. 1 billion has been left unrecovered for several past years from Government properties, which have to be collected as early as possible,” said Mayor Muzammil.

“In addition to the above, steps were taken to allocate a large amount of money within the above 62 per cent for the benefit of residents of Colombo and to improve infrastructure facilities for the convenience of attending to duties of the council. Thereby, the council has adopted a method to maintain a balance between the development and welfare activities. This council has adopted a policy in the budget for 2013 not to trim welfare facilities provided to citizens. The budget was prepared in accordance with the promised policy declaration handed over to voters during the election, under the heading ‘Puravara Dekma,’” he added.

It was proposed that a sum of Rs. 153 million be allocated for members at Rs. 3 million to each member for the purpose of looking into and attending to minor shortcomings found in each ward and to attend to sanitary conditions of the people living in underprivileged settlements and to also allocate Rs. 53 million at Rs. 1 million to each member for the purchase of asbestos roofing sheets for poor people and to uplift their living conditions by securing self-employment, which would enable lifting them over the poverty line.