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Tearing down history
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Pix and text by Akila Jayawardana
The tenants of the De Soysa Building, a 150-year-old building in Slave Island, Colombo have begun moving their families and businesses after the Urban Development Authority (UDA) began demolishing the building. The demolishing of the building was fast-tracked after a part of the building collapsed due to deterioration in June. Now, the handful of families and businesses that were based at the De Soysa Building for generations are forced to evict, after the UDA expedited the process to demolish the building in order to offer the land to the Indian-owned Tata Housing Development Company. The Tata Housing Development Company acquired the land in 2018 as the lead investor in the UDA’s Slave Island Redevelopment Project. The move was challenged by the residents as well as the Department of Archaeology which is currently in the process of gazetting the building under the Antiquities Ordinance No 09 of 1940 as a historical landmark.
Residents claimed that the UDA has outsourced the removal of rubble and material from the building to a local company, which had begun work in July.
Some of the tenants said that even though they will clear out most of their property, some of the shops will remain until the authorities arrive to evict them officially.
