Letters from Sri Lanka, by Paul Johnson (PIA Volunteer from Planning SA) Tuesday 20 March 2007 Well, after an indifferent week last week with Lanka Lurgy (something like Bali Belly), I had a really good weekend. Travelled to Galle (114 km south of Colombo) and stayed in a part of Galle called the Fort in a guest house with the other volunteers. The Fort is just that - it is a fortification established by the Portugese, raided by the Dutch and then by the British. It is World heritage listed and has real charm. It is virtually a town within the Fort. The Fort survived in tact in the Tsunami, but 1800 people were lost in the new town as well as the international cricket ground which is in the throws of redevelopment. The trip down there on the train was a bit over two hours, but after the trip to the station etc I reckon it was four hours all up. Anyway, for those of you who have travelled on Indian trains I imagine something similar. At times it felt like a roller coaster, the track was so uneven and it is virtually solid development all the way along the ride, although less dense closer to Galle. We also visited a silk manufacturer and spice gardens and scored a massage using the oils etc they produce there. We also visited and swam at Unawatuna beach which is supposed to be one of the best beaches in the country and had drinks food etc virtually on the beach - sensational. We had dinner during a heavy near monsoonal downpour before heading back to the Fort. I missed the last train back to Colombo, so caught a bus. They jammed 24+ people into a mini bus, with fold down seats along the isle. Had to move back one spot every time somebody got off. But at least it was air-conditioned. It took three hours, plus a tuk-tuk ride back from the bus stop. I have noticed that the weather is warming up heading into the monsoon season at the end of April (currently low thirties, but very high humidity). I am very privileged having a fan at the office! My morning runs are progressively getting harder too because it is already warm at 6:45am. The office air-conditioner at NPPD seems to be malfunctioning, so I am seriously hoping it is fixed before it warms up too much more. May have to start working more at the PIA office which has quite good air-conditioning, but I am guttsing it out at the moment. Oh yes, I have been working too. The work program I have written is approved and congrats received from the D-G. It is going to the Minister soon. I have already been working on it despite the lack of approval up to now for the program. I visit the Province tomorrow for two days and have a workshop with the locals planned for next week (had to prepare a program for that too). Supposed to be very beautiful area - and its out of the office!! Anyway must go - chat again soon. Paul
Saturday 10 March 2007 Hi all, Well, another week has flown past. This one was mostly spent in the office at National Physical Planning Department, which is an enormous building with about 4,000 people working in it and a number of government Ministers. It is a concrete 50's building, somewhat like Walkerville transport building but not as well maintained and much bigger. Being treated very well and managed to get on the executive tea run without asking, so I am receiving tea delivered to my office at least twice daily. They like their tea very sweet, so I have had to convince the tea people (pions) who deliver the tea that I really don't want sugar and like it dark - their English is not so good so a simple task like that can be laborious!! I was introduced to the D-G yesterday, and this guy is a real dynamo. There are some interesting stories about his ventures, including the setting up his own movie company. He tried to expand the project to about three times the size in the first five minutes, but we have successfully managed to get it back to managable proportions. The project is a Provincial Plan for the Sabargumawa Province, made up of two districts - Rathnapura and Kegalle. A current population of about 1million people. Many issues, from land slides, deforrestation, poor use of water and development on high slopes. There are even serious proposals to close towns in what is called fragile areas (and the locals like it!!) - a bit like our watershed - try doing that in the Mount Lofty Ranges!! We need to be designating land for growth and resettlement. So yes, in the remaining 10 weeks the D-G wanted more than a mere Provincial plan prepared!! Will be spending a few days up there and talking to the locals. I have a team of three allocated to me (a GIS person and two junior planners). Mind you these guys are very well qualified - they are just very short af the number of professionals required - hardly any at the local level. The juniors are given very menial tasks by their seniors though, so it will not be hard to help expand their experience (which is one of the reasons we are here - to help with capacity building). So much else I can talk about. Socially, we had drinks at the Australian embassy on Thursday evening and there are regular drinks on a Friday evening with a group called "Coloumbo Charlie". The other PIA volunteers are a great bunch - four women from all over Australia. It has been great working with them. They are all off to Hamabantota today, but will be back periodically to visit and I will be heading down there as well. I have added a few photos - apologies for their size. They are as follows: Kids at a cricket game (they were playing a game and asked me to bat - was bold by a future Shaun Tait third ball but scored off the third ball).
A fruit stall on the road to Hambantota - great fresh fruit here. Hambantota beach - yes this was hit by the Tsunami - the area behind the beach is full of ruined buildings View over the balcony from my bedroom On a tuk -tuk (three wheel motorbike with a cabin on the back) ride - one of the PIA volunteers Rebecca (our two tuk tuks decided to race done a main road, weaving in and out of the traffic. Any way enough for the moment - must go. best wishes to all, Paul
Sunday 4 March 2007 Hello all, Well, I finally had the chance to load up some photos from my camera. This place is amazing, a sort of chaotic beauty. Wherever we humans have intervened there is chaos, but the rest is just fantastic. I will include a few photos that I have taken so far, but it probably won't give you the full picture. I will send more if I can over the coming weeks, so hopefully the picture can develop for you. For those of you who are not planners my apologies, but it is interesting all the same I think. I have mostly been in Colombo this week, coming up to scratch on the planning system here and learning about the bureaucracy, which is actually quite advanced, but apparently painfully slow. We have been eased into things this week and had enough time to get around a bit and enjoy ourselves. There are many similar features to the planning systems in OZ, but it is highly centralised, with few staff at the local level. At the moment the five of us are in Columbo, three of us living at the PIA office which has very good rooms above the office (see photos). The others are in a guest house which also is quite good. We travelled down to Hambantota and Tangalle on Thursday, which was a very long trip, starting at 6:00am and getting back about Midnight. These towns were Tsunami hit, but very attractive towns. Four of us (but not me) will be based down there for most of the time. I think I am lucky there because the accommodation will not be so good, but I will miss the company of the others. I will be in Colombo mostly preparing a district plan for an area called Ratnapura, which is a gem town and agricultural district. I will also need to spend some time down there and intend to visit the others also. We eat out for virtually everything except breakfast and the locals are really looking after us. On Friday night we had dinner with the Sri lankan Planning Institute, and went for drinks afterwards at the Galle Face hotel, a classic British relic from their colonial days, I might include a photo or two of the hotel. The food is really affordable and good. We can buy lunch for under two dollars including a drink.
The PIA project manager in Colombo is Sri Lankan called Hemantha and a really capable guy. Like most of the locals they speak pretty good English, so that is not an issue. I have included a photo of him. There is a real mixture of buildings from the Portugese, Dutch and British who have all colonised the place over the years. Many of the places are run down though, I think that it is in part the humid climate which takes its toll in terms of mold and grime, not to mention those people who are not used to it. I have been for a couple of runs and had to stop on the second one because I went mid morning and starting getting dizzy! The pool at Galle Face Hotel is also pretty good, although the machine gun turret at the nearby Indian embassy is a fraction off putting. Security is high at the moment around Colombo with the recent sinking of a LTTE armaments ship. There are regular road blocks and security checks, but I feel quite safe. Anyway it is all enjoyable so far and I am looking forward to seeing and doing more. I hope you are all well and look forward to hearing what is happening back there - as long as it is good news! I am having trouble, as are the others, with attachments, so I have limited the number of photos will send more photos soon. best wishes, Paul