Sri Lanka to set up 20 new local councils

Sri Lanka government has decided to set up 20 new local government bodies. They include Municipal Councils, Urban Councils and Pradeshiya Sabhas, said the Minister of Local Government and Provincial Councils A.L.M. Athaulla.



A three-member committee including a senior official of the Survey Department has been appointed to demarcate the new boundaries.

The majority of the new local government institutes are to be set up in the Western Province while four new urban councils are to be established in Jaffna district.

Trincomalee Urban Council is to be promoted as a Municipal Council. Hambanthota, Kaduwela and Dambulla Pradeshiya Sabhas have been already gazettted as Municipal Councils, said Minister Athaulla.

Presently, Sri Lanka has 330 local government institutes. Of them, 18 are Municipal Councils and 42 are Urban Councils.