Hikka stench abates

January 4, 2012, 8:47 pm 

By Harischandra Gunaratna

The hotly disputed garbage disposal issue at the Hikkaduwa tourist resort which almost created a huge environmental hazard has been settled and the Urban Council has resumed clearance of garbage from the hotels commencing Friday after the Economic Development Ministry intervened in the matter, an official said.

Siri Goonewardene, President of the Hikkaduwa Hoteliers Association (HHA), said that after the Urban Council was sent a directive by the Economic Development Ministry, the clearance of garbage was resumed after two weeks.

"Now the issue has been fully settled and everything is running smoothly," he said

He admitted that the Urban Council (UC) had a dispute with HHA over the payment of arrears in rents and taxes with a penalty to the former, and the association refused to make the payments as there was a dispute regarding the values.

"When we requested UC Chairman Winnie Kariyawasam to explain as to how the Council arrived at the particular figures, they refused to do so and demanded the payments and things got worse from there," the HHA President said.

The Council Chairman Winnie Kariyawasam also demanded a payment of Rs 350,000 for banners displayed by sponsors during the Hikka Beach Festival 2011 after having reached an agreement accompanied by a written undertaking by the Council that there would not be taxes levied on the banners, he said.

The HHA President said that a few years ago Sri Lanka Tourism donated two tractors to the Urban Council to keep the resort clean as the objective was to have a tourist friendly resort.

Asked about reports that he has alleged Kariyawasam was demanding ransom from hotels, Goonewardene denied these claims and said that certain interested parties are trying to make a mountain of a molehill.

Goonewardene said that the killing of a tourist in Tangalle has had no effect on arrivals in Hikkaduwa and the hotels will be full in the resort till end March.

"The majority of tourists here are Scandinavians followed by Germans and then English," said Siri Goonewardene.