State Minister for Provincial Councils and Local Government Mr. Janaka Wakkambura says that several amendments will be brought to the Local Government Act in the future to prevent unauthorized construction.
He also stated that this will remove the existing barriers to take immediate action to prevent unauthorized construction.
The minister expressed these views at the national ceremony held yesterday (23) at the Akurana local council, starting the program of making all payments of local government bodies online, including assessment taxes. This program is being implemented together with the People’s Bank and this will enable all payments including local council taxes to be made online.
Speaking there, the minister pointed out that this program is being implemented in 346 local government bodies and that by March of next year, online payments can be made in all local government bodies.
He pointed out that in order to prevent illegal constructions, constructions are taking place during the period of correspondence between government agencies and many problems arise due to the fact that families are living there when decisions are taken to remove them. He said that by observing the city of Akurana which is constantly submerged in river water, it is clear where the fault lies and said that by amending the Local Government Act such mistakes will not happen again.
Also, the minister said that programs will be implemented for all government institutions to use new technology and accordingly, they will be given the opportunity to do many services online at the divisional secretariats and district secretariats.
He said that income generation programs will be identified for local governments with lower incomes and he said that local governments in the central province will have the opportunity to earn income from the tourism sector. The State Minister also pointed out that it is possible to give an amount of one thousand million rupees to the local government bodies to earn tourism income.
He pointed out that the provincial councils and the Ministry of Local Government have planned a program to strengthen those institutions by giving the money received from various sources including foreign aid to the provincial councils.
He said that unused government vehicles will be given to the provincial councils and he mentioned that the government even has rollers that have been parked in weeds without even travelling at least a distance of five kilometers. State Minister Mr. Janaka Wakkambura further mentioned that such vehicles and machinery are planned to be provided to the local government bodies to provide any service to the public.
