Partnership for Principle 10 in Sri Lanka

Ministerial Directions on Information Disclosure in the Urban Sector

The history of PP10 in Sri Lanka can itself be termed a success story thus far. As disclosed in previous TAI studies on access to information and public participation, Sri Lankan officialdom has a strong culture of non-disclosure. This is mainly fostered by the Establishments Code under which a public officer cannot disclose information without the approval of his Head of Department. In the event of unauthorized disclosure, the Department concerned is bound to conduct an inquiry to find the source of such disclosure, and any such person could face disciplinary proceedings.

In an environment specific context there was also the removal, in the year 2000, of the requirement of prior disclosure and public participation in the evaluation of development projects that were deemed to require only an Initial Environmental Examination (IEE) as distinct from an Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA). As the project approving agencies have a discretion to decide whether a project should require an IEE or an EIA, this led to some very environmentally sensitive projects being approved with only an IEE, without any public input.

Nevertheless, in December 2005, when the TAI program was launched in Sri Lanka by the Public Interest Law Foundation and the TAI Sri Lanka National NGO Coalition, the Hon. Dinesh Gunewardene, Minister of Urban Development, delivering the keynote address, stated that Sri Lanka was a signatory to the Rio Declaration and that the Government was supportive of Principle 10 of this Declaration.

In pursuance of the Government’s commitment to PP10, the Ministry of Urban Development submitted a Cabinet Paper for Sri Lanka to join PP10 in the second half of 2007. The said Cabinet Paper was approved in September 2007 and the Secretary to the Ministry, Dr. P. Ramanujam attended the Partnership for Principle 10, Fourth Committee meeting of the Whole in Mexico, in October 2007. This was the first PP10 meeting attended by Sri Lanka. The purpose of the meeting was to update partners on the status and successes of PP10 thus far and submit commitments. The Secretary noted at the meeting that Sri Lanka had obtained Cabinet approval to join PP10 and pledged to draft commitments to implement Principle 10.

In accordance with the Cabinet Memorandum and this announcement, the Ministry of Urban Development was required to meet the following obligations:

1. To establish a National Steering Committee to lead the drafting of the commitments to PP10 and promote activities for PP10 in Sri Lanka.
2. To submit the said commitments to the PP10 (committee of the whole).

The first step was taken when the Minister appointed the National Steering Committee (NSC) in September 2008. The NSC chaired by the Secretary to the Ministry of Urban Development has met on five occasions since its establishment and at its third meeting in November 2008, it was decided to draft a set of ministerial directions on disclosure of information, train the staff of relevant agencies on the directions and carry out a pilot project on its enforcement, as Sri Lanka’s commitments to PP 10.

Main Provisions of the Urban Sector Access to Information Directions, 2009

 Relevant agencies shall display lists of documents to which the public will have access. These documents include, inter alia, Environmental Impact Assessments, development proposals, development plans, scientific data reports, legal documents such as plaints, petitions, certified copies of judgments, plans, agreements, contracts and leases of the agencies.

 Agencies shall designate an Information Officer to assist the public with information requests

 The directions set out a procedure to be followed when obtaining information from the relevant agencies

 The directions give the public the right to appeal when relevant agencies refuse to disclose information

The drafting of the directions progressed successfully and PILF facilitated this process. Officers of the relevant agencies that come under the Ministry of Urban Development and Sacred Area Development, namely, the Urban Development Authority and the Sri Lanka Land Reclamation and Development Corporation were consulted when drafting the directions and the lists of public documents for each agency.

The draft directions and the lists of public documents have now been submitted to the Hon. Minister of Urban Development and Sacred Area Development for approval. Making of the directions directly comes out of the TAI study and its recommendations and this is the first time that such directions are issued on information disclosure.