Port City Colombo, a world-class city for South Asia in the making, is dedicated to the development and upkeep of Colombo city and its surrounding locale. In line with its commitment for sustainable development, Port City Colombo recently pledged to maintain the attractive beach stretch within Colombo city limits as a continuous commitment.
Port City Colombo launched a one-year beach cleanup program, ‘Lassana Verala’ – Beach is only for Footprints’, from Mount Lavinia to Wellawatta, together with a not-for-profit organization the “Wana Arana Foundation” recently. Port City Colombo will fund the project and the Wana Arana Foundation will manage the supervision and maintenance of the daily cleanup of the 5km beach stretch for one year.
A large quantity of waste piles up daily on the beachfront from Mt. Lavinia to Wellawatta, as well as its surrounding canals, causing health and environmental concerns. This affects not only the people that live close by, but also the public visiting the beaches to spend their leisure time with families. This is also observed as a disadvantage for the tourism industry, as many hotels and restaurants depend on this area, with its key attraction for beach view and access. Port City Colombo has taken this initiative as a part of its corporate social responsibility to ensure a cleaner beach that will benefit the people and support local tourism industry.
The project will be supported by the Ministry of Urban Development Water Supply and Housing Facilities, the Colombo Municipal Council, the Dehiwala-Mount Lavinia Municipal Council, the Department of Coast Conservation, Sri Lanka Police and the Coast Guard. The inaugural event of the program was held at Mount Lavinia beach with the participation of the secretary to the Ministry of Urban Development, Water Supply and Housing Facilities Dr. Priyath Bandu Wickrama and Managing Director of Port City Colombo Jiang Houliang.