The area around Water’s Edge hotel, Battaramulla is set to become the best city of recreation and leisure in the coming years, Megapolis and Western Development Minister Champika Ranawaka yesterday said.
“Moves are afoot to convert the area into a sustainable dengue free zone as part of constructing foundation infrastructure,”he said.
Megapolios Ministry sources said moves are also underway to reduce pollution in waterways in the area under the envisioned plan.
The management of the hotel is currently engaged in the task of transforming the area into a dengue free zone with the support of the public and health ministry experts.
“They have formed a Task Force with the help of the public to eradicate dengue from the area of the proposed Leisure City, sources said.
Minister Ranawaka said the city’s canals are being cleaned at least once every week now. The ministry has received instructions from the President and the Prime Minister to keep the city’s waterways clean.
“We have started cleaning and reconstructing canals the progress of which is reported to us by Sri Lanka Navy,” he said.
“The Water’s Edge management has done well to gather the public around their efforts to transform the area into a dengue free zone, because there is nothing much we can do without their active participation to keep their environs clean,” he said.
“Besides,’ the minister said,’the government alone cannot do the work because we have not invested a five cent for waste management for the last few decades despite that we have spent billions on highway constructions and mass scale city beautification projects.’’
“It came to light whilst we were on canal reconstructing and cleaning, that lack of toilets and poor sanitation have put the city’s health at risk,” Minister Ranawaka said.
“Moves are underway to deal with these issues,” the minister said.