Galle Town Hall, which has been closed for six years, is being repaired at a rapid pace and is scheduled to be opened by Prime Minister Dinesh Gunawardena this month.
This is the best Town Hall in the Southern Province and the foundation stone of this building had been laid in 1953 by late Dudley Senanayake, who was the then Prime Minister, and it had been inaugurated in 1956 by Prime Minister S.W.R.D. Bandaranaike.
Meanwhile, in 2017, a piece of the ceiling had fallen on a cake at a cake exhibition held at the town hall. However no one had been injured. After this incident, the municipal authorities decided to renovate the entire building as it badly needed repair.
Later, an agreement was signed with the Central Engineering Bureau in January 2017 to renew the building. But no renovation was carried out for two years and the only thing that was done was to demolish some portions of the town hall. Due to this, not only did the Municipal Council lose a lot of income, but the people also were also faced immense problems.
The Municipal Accounting Department also had to be shifted to another location, paying a monthly rental of Rs. 70,000.
Subsequently, the present mayor Priyantha Sahabandu took steps to renovate the Town Hall in 2020 following constant media revelations. Accordingly, the renovation project of the Town Hall was launched with funds obtained through the mediation of Southern Province Governor Willie Gamage. The project was undertaken and completed by Army Engineers.
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