Abstract:
Post developmental construction policies in Sri Lanka are trying to reach two ends. One is
to fulfill the citizens' needs and the other is to attract foreign direct investments (FDI). To
address the citizens' needs, state adapts the neo-liberal welfare policies. To draw inward the-
FDIs, state provides the duty concessions and developed infrastructures. Thereby in case
of achieving above dual tasks, mega and micro developmental projects are implemented
by GOSL in rural and urban areas. Establishing the new free trade zones and rearranging
the old zones, constructing highways, conference halls, botanical gardens, cinema villages,
Leisure parks and shopping moles symbolically implement the state role as a capitalist
facilitator but government often emphasized these constructions as a need of citizens.
In this context, the research problem of current study is that, in spite of including
the human subject into developmental policies why does government exclude ordinary
citizens from development policies? Two research questions are discussed here. One is as
to how the government alienates the ordinary citizens from development policies? Second
is as to how development policies address the citizens' grievances? The research is done by
collecting data applying the methods of unstructured interviews and focus group discussions
with 50 respondents who are already victims of Kandy-Colombo highway alternative
road construction in the central province, Kandy District, Gatambe GN division. The
descriptive methodology is used to analyze data.
One of the key finding is that citizens do not integrate into parachuted development
policies. As a result, the development polices failed to corporate in fulfilling the inhabitants'
needs. Direct and indirect, long and short term benefits do not reach to these
citizens. New political culture emerged and it is clinetalistic politics and promoted popular
base political policies. Clientalistic political culture endorses the individual political
agenda and political and social unity among citizens was demised as a result of clientalistic
politics.