From rxpgnews.com
Sri Lanka trip incomplete without a visit to Kandy: mayor
By Sumegha Agarwal, RxPG News Service,
Nov 28, 2006 - 4:38:32 PM
Dehradun, Nov 28 - Inviting Indian tourists to visit his country, the mayor of Sri Lanka's second biggest city Kandy says, 'If you don't visit Kandy, your trip to Sri Lanka is incomplete'.
Loku Banda Aluvihare, the proud mayor of 'his beautiful Kandy' said: 'No person coming to Sri Lanka goes back without visiting Kandy.'
Aluvihare, a veteran politician belonging to United National Party -, comes from a family of politicians and is fondly referred to as 'Nagarpita' - by his colleagues attending the 1st Asian Mayors' Conference in Dehradun.
All groups live peacefully with each other in Kandy, a world heritage site, which is not directly affected by the ongoing ethnic conflict in country's northeast, Aluvihare told IANS.
'Though the ethnic conflict has no effect on the running of the city, it does indirectly affect inter-area business and free transportation,' he added.
He agreed that tourism had been adversely affected by the volatile political situation in the country.
Kandy was declared a World Heritage Site in 1988 and it holds in its Temple of the Tooth Sri Lanka's most sacred religious relic, the tooth of the Buddha.
Talking about Kandy's heritage status and its impact on the city's local governance, he said: 'It puts certain constraints for the city's management around heritage-listed sites. We negotiate with people to comply with heritage requirements.'
Aluvihare, who has been working in Kandy's city council for the last 12 years, lists many challenges as a mayor.
'My top priority is traffic congestion, followed by housing and efforts at bolstering other civic amenities,' he said.
In regard to the challenges faced by the developing cities of Asia, the mayor said: 'Central governments have not been contributing enough finances for local governance. They must allocate us better financial resources.'
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