• Taken for six months at Rs. 300,000 per month
• Former Commissioners still in official residences
• Four CMC houses currently shut down

The new Colombo Municipal Commissioner is currently residing in a residence taken out on rent due to the unavailability of an official residence, it is learnt. A report of the Colombo Municipal Council (CMC) Finance Committee had noted that a residence for the Commissioner had been taken on rent at a monthly rental of Rs. 300,000 on Rockwood Place, Off Kynsey Road in Colombo 7. Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP) Councillor at the CMC Hemantha Weerakoon had told the media that the Council that met recently had granted approval to take on rent a house in Colombo 7 for the CMC Commissioner for a period of six months. The decision to rent a house for the CMC Commissioner had revealed that the official residence assigned to the Commissioner, located near the Colombo National Museum in Colombo 7, had not been returned by the former CMC Commissioner Bhadrani Jayawardena due to an ongoing court case. Also, former CMC Commissioner V.K. Anura had also taken on rent an official residence on Darley Road in Colombo 10 and had not returned the residence as he too is engaged in litigation. Another former Municipal Commissioner, Palitha Nanayakkara, who had taken a house on rent on Maligakanda Road in Colombo 10, had also not vacated his residence. Meanwhile, four official residences of the CMC located in Colombo 2, 7, and 10 have been shut down and are not occupied.