City residents opt to stay home or travel to outstaions as SAARC gets off

Most Colombo city residents and those living in the immediate outskirts have opted to remain indoors or travel to outstations during the week as meetings of the SAARC got underway on Sunday.

Less number of vehicles entered the city on Monday compared to other weeks and most shops and offices plan to reduce their business activities later in the week expecting less number of customers to turn up.

Most residents said they would opt to stay back at home than traveling and caught in traffic blocks.

Hotels in the outstations including Kandy and the southern coastal line said they had received more bookings compared to other weeks and were expecting more visitors.

The Sri Lanka Tourism organized Hikkaduwa Beach festival 2008 is also expected to draw out crowds from the city in addition to Cricket fans traveling down to Galle to witness the second test match between Sri Lanka and India starting on Thursday.

Security is being further intensified in an around the city with 12,000 policemen and 8,000 security personnel.

On Monday residents witnesses sudden interruptions of traffic with roads being closed at short notice for the movement of delegates between hotels and the main venue at the BMICH.

Meanwhile the official level meetings opened on Sunday and the Foreign Secretaries are due to meet from tomorrow before the Foreign Ministers meeting opens on Thursday followed by the heads of state meeting on Saturday and Sunday.

Those using the Negombo road have been warned that they should expect sudden interruptions of traffic for long hours on Friday as the heads of state are due arrive on Friday.