By: Indo-US Tribune News Desk

Forty senior Sri Lankan civil servants have successfully completed a capacity-building programme at India’s National Centre for Good Governance (NCGG), held from September 22 to October 3. The training focused on “Clean Cities, Better Future: Transforming Urban Sri Lanka with Regional Practices,” the High Commission of India in Colombo stated on Saturday.

The programme aligned with Sri Lankan President Anura Kumara Dissanayake’s “Clean Sri Lanka” initiative and India’s “Swachhata Hi Seva 2025” campaign under the Swachh Bharat Mission. Participants engaged in expert-led sessions on urban planning, municipal governance, public-private partnerships, solid waste management with emphasis on plastic recycling, digital innovation, and urban transport solutions.

Field visits offered practical exposure to model initiatives at leading institutions, including the National Institute of Urban Affairs, Mussoorie–Dehradun Development Authority, Tehkhand Waste-to-Energy Project, Integrated Tribal Development Agency, and Delhi Metro Rail Project. These experiences highlighted innovative municipal governance, citizen-centric public services, and sustainable urban infrastructure practices.

This marks the fifth training programme under the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) signed in December 2024 between NCGG and the Sri Lanka Institute of Development Administration. The MoU aims to train 1,500 Sri Lankan civil service officers over five years. With the completion of this programme, 201 officers have been trained under the MoU to date.

Based on positive feedback and a request from the Sri Lankan government, the sixth programme under the same theme will train another 40 officers, further strengthening India–Sri Lanka collaboration in sustainable urban management and governance.

The programme underscores India’s commitment to sharing best practices in urban governance and environmental management with regional partners, promoting capacity building, innovation, and citizen-focused development in South Asia.