• To tax new constructions   

The Colombo Municipal Council (CMC) is conducting a special survey to find out whether more than the prescribed capacity of construction has been done in the Colombo 7 (Cinnamon Gardens) area in the past few years.

Speaking to The Daily Morning, CMC Commissioner Bhadrani Jayawardena said that the CMC is currently conducting a survey in order to find out if the constructions in the Colombo 7 area had exceeded the prescribed capacity. 

“We have been conducting this survey for about three months now. Our aim is to identify newly built constructions in the area and to place them under the relevant tax schemes,” she said. When queried as to whether the residents' information is also collected in the survey, she said: “We don’t collect residents' information in this survey. The Urban Development Authority (UDA) conducts those surveys.”

Due to the economic crisis in the country, the Government has paid special attention to increasing the tax revenue. Under the same, various programmes are being implemented such as cutting down the unnecessary expenses of Government institutions, restructuring loss-making Government institutions, expanding the income tax collection system, and launching programmes to include the parties who have not paid taxes so far, into the tax system.

Being an affluent neighbourhood in Colombo, Cinnamon Gardens houses various important locations such as leading schools and universities, hospitals, other Government institutions including several Ministries and corporations, sporting venues, diplomatic missions including embassies and high commissions, religious places, public parks, and monumental locations.