5000 police to be deployed at top Commonwealth summit in Sri Lanka

Over 5000 police will be deployed in Sri Lanka's capital Colombo for a top Commonwealth Summit to be held later this month, an official said here on Tuesday. As feverish preparations are made for the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM) in Colombo the police have put together new traffic plans to ensure security for the 53 Heads of State and Prince Charles who will be arriving to attend the summit. Sri Lanka is hosting the most important meeting for the Commonwealth for the first time. Over 30 schools will also be closed during the summit, which kicks off on 10 November. "There will be road closures during this period but we are working very hard to make sure that residents are not inconvenienced," police spokesman Anura Senanayake told reporters. Beggars and homeless people have already been removed from most of the main roads in Colombo together with dozens of stray dogs as the government invests large chunks of money on beautifying the city ahead of CHOGM. Earlier President Rajapaksa opened the island's second highway, which was also built from a Chinese loan of 292 million U.S. dollars. The highway will be used by Commonwealth leaders when they arrive to take part in CHOGM. During the opening President Rajapaksa praised China for supporting a project that was needed for more than four decades and finally became reality much to the happiness of the people. The new expressway will reduce travel time between the country' s international airport and capital city to just 20 minutes. China has also refurbished the venue for CHOGM and the opening ceremony will be held at a performing arts theater donated by China to Sri Lanka in 2011. One of the largest delegations for the business forum on the sidelines of CHOGM will be sent by China while 42 companies are expected to take part in a trade exhibition in Sri Lanka during the same time.