Minister issues Directions on Access to Information
Feb 1, 2010 Posted by Sonali de Silva
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The Minister of Urban Development and Sacred Area Development Hon. Dinesh Gunewardene officially issued the Directions on Information Disclosure in the Urban Sector on 15th September 2009. The directions were directly based on the recommendations of the TAI Sri Lanka study. This is the first time that such directions are issued on information disclosure.

These directions are applicable to the agencies coming under the Ministry of Urban Development and Sacred Area Development including the Urban Development Authority, the Sri Lanka Land Reclamation and Development Corporation and local authorities to the extent that they exercise urban planning and development powers delegated to them by the UDA.

The Public Interest Law Foundation that facilitated the process of making the ministerial directions, held two training workshops on the directions and its implementation for the staff of relevant agencies. (Please see pictures below.)The PILF is also carrying out a pilot project on its enforcement.

The above exercise comes as Sri Lanka’s commitment to Partnership for Principle 10.

Sri Lanka, Access To Information, Access To Information And Justice, Institutional Reform
1 Comment
This is an Important Landmark
Posted by Lalanath de Silva
8:49am - Feb 2, 2010

Bravo to rhe Minister of Urban Development, the various agencies under the Ministry such as the UDA and the SLLRDC and Local Authorities, the Secretary to the ministry and PILF. This is indeed a landmark in good governance for Sri Lanka. The first ever access to information guidelines issued in the history of the nation. I sincerely hope that all concerned will now make a concerted effort to implement these guidelines ad make a model out of it.

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