The Hon. Eranga Gunasekara

¶ 01 Please give me five minutes, Hon. Presiding Member.

¶ 02 We know that even within urban development projects, sometimes we make a plan, but unless there is active intervention to implement it physically, it remains only a plan. Therefore, with the President’s personal intervention, we expect to allocate over Rs. 2,000 million and move to a targeted program covering 10 towns. As our Minister said, we are now discussing this with the relevant District Secretaries and Members of Parliament of those districts, so that we can intervene at the very start of next year.

¶ 03 Finally, I want to speak about flood management, Hon. Presiding Member. You know that especially parts of Colombo and districts like Gampaha have, over time, suffered immense pressure from riverine flooding on one side and stormwater on the other. I am pleased to say that through planned interventions by District Secretaries, the BOGs of our ministries, and officers of the Land Development Division, we were able to manage the pressures coming from the recent heavy rains in Kolonnawa and similarly in Gampaha. Within the urban development subject, a large number of officers are engaged in these interventions. We have discussed with them recently. Our Minister has put a program in place. That program will be implemented very robustly next year. If there were shortfalls this year, we are determined to achieve better results, to build beautiful towns and enable a clean and comfortable life, and I conclude by pledging that we will all intervene to make this a success.