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The shape of our urban future By Thushara
Matthias Apart from
lack of funds in the Urban Development Authority (UDA), which is
in charge of urban planning, there needs to be a clear, consistent
and long term plan that can be implemented without interference
by politicians or change of governments. This is far from the case.
The Sustainable Township Project goes along at a snail's pace. The
organizations that worked together to make this project a success
are now under different ministries. Reluctance to co-ordinate, lack
of co-operation, and unwillingness to pool resources seem to slowly
bringing this project to a halt. In this interview with The Sunday
Times FT, S. Amarasekara, Secretary, Ministry of Western Region
Development and UDA Chairman speaks about the UDA's present projects
and the future shape of our urban landscape. Associated with him
were W. Adhikari, Head of the Land Sales Promotion Unit and H.K.
Jayasundera, Director, Project Implementation. What is the
current status of the plan to develop the Colombo Metropolitan Area
where the country's economic and administrative functions are concentrated
along with the international airport and harbour? Until last
year the plan in operation was the Colombo Metropolitan Region (CMR)
Plan. This was being amended but has been temporarily halted as
the Western Region Development Plan is being drafted now. This was
an idea of the Prime Minster under the 'Regaining Sri Lanka' initiative.
At present the BOI and CESMA International Private Ltd, a subsidiary
of the Housing Development Board of Singapore, have signed a Memorandum
of Understanding. Many parties felt that the guidelines set by the
UDA in our previous plans were too rigid and need to be relaxed.
The UDA has identified areas such as Colombo 3 and 7 as prime residential
areas. Among the other proposals that are under consideration is
not to allow high-rise buildings to come up in the coastal stretch
as there is a plan to freeze development between Galle Road and
the sea beach up to Wellawatta. What are the
main proposals in the new plan? We have identified
areas for open development as many urban areas are already congested.
Avissawella is one such new area. The Greater Colombo area is also
to be increased with the inclusion of other areas such as part of
Maharagama and part of Kolonnawa. At present the Greater Colombo
area consists of the Colombo Municipal Council area, Kotte and Mount
Lavinia. Under this plan the CMR Plan will also be revised. What are the
prime lands in Colombo that the UDA is considering for development? There are other
sites that the UDA is hoping to sell and develop. The land at Hewa
Avenue, Colombo 7 (68 perches) is to be developed as a residential
area. An area at Reid Avenue (145 perches) is for mixed development.
This will be advertised very soon. The former Weaving Mill site
at Wellawatta, which is the largest plot of land in Colombo with
an area of 17 acres, is also to be developed for mixed purposes
through a joint venture between Bank of Ceylon and UDA. A company has
been established for this purpose. This land is a very useful land
for private investments. The UDA is
hoping to build the basic infrastructure for the land, which will
be open for private sector investment later on while the UDA holds
one site for housing projects. Under Regaining
Sri Lanka it has been proposed to develop the Panchikawatta Triangle,
which is a key urban centre in Colombo. This presently causes traffic
congestion as squatters occupy it. If a development project is carried
out the prime land will be released. This project
has still not started. Surath Wickramsinghe Architects has been
engaged to carry out a feasibility study on the project. What other
urban areas is the UDA considering developing? Beruwala, Gampaha
and Negombo have been identified as major growth centres. The plans
for Maharagama and Negombo are being prepared. We will start work
on these areas shortly. There is prime land in Nuwara Eliya on the
former Kachcheri site which the UDA is hoping to advertise for sale
in the future. There is concern
over sewerage and water disposal and discharge of storm water. During
heavy rains the problems become acute. What are the measures taken
by the authority to improve conditions? The UDA is a planning and regulatory body. The maintenance of any public property is the task of the Municipal Council. The UDA acts as a facilitator for investments. How are UDA
projects financed? The government
budget allocates a certain amount for administrative purposes. The
money for projects is through land sales. Yet, due to lack of funds
we have decided to obtain bank loans keeping prime land as security.
We need funds for land acquisitions, to relocate squatters, etc.
Since the UDA lacks funds we adopted an alternative method under
which the UDA approaches the landowner. Then, according to guidelines
set by the UDA, developers are called to bid for the land. The UDA
appoints a tender board, which consists of officials and a representative
of the landowner. Transparency is maintained throughout the whole
procedure. Then after considering many factors such as land value,
the UDA awards the tender to the successful bidder. The bidder will
then pay the landowner through the UDA where the landowner is guaranteed
his compensation. The UDA gets four percent of the total deal as
management fees. Then the developer develops the land under the
guidance of the UDA. Recently the
government gave approval to the UDA to acquire about 25 to 30 plots
of land, which is owned by various government departments in areas
like Dematagoda. Yet, several government institutions are reluctant
to release their assets. We are in the negotiating stage. Is there is
a marked shortage of recreational facilities in Sri Lankan cities
compared to other cities worldwide? This is quite true. Now the UDA is planning several projects to fill this void. Adjacent to the Bolgoda Lake in Boralasgamuwa there are plans to build a theme park. The UDA invites
proposals from reputed investors to develop and manage two adjacent
sites, 5.29 acres and 4.64 acres in extent, adjoining the fisheries
harbour at Polkotuwa, Beruwela, for predominantly open-air recreation
and entertainment with maximum free access for the general public
while including revenue generating activities. There are plans
to develop a beach carnival zone and a green zone. Shanties and
slums tend to discourage investors in acquiring land in certain
areas. Isn't this a major barrier to development? Yes, it's a
major social problem. These lands are very valuable, yet the people
living on them can't be relocated without alternate housing. The
UDA is now focusing its attention on this matter. The Constitution
guarantees "Shelter for all" but how far has this been
achieved? What are the programmes to provide shelter for the ever-increasing
urban population of the country? The UDA is
presently planning to build 1300 housing units in several cities.
These include Borella, Kollupitiya Peliyagoda, Rajagiriya, ,Kalapaluwawa,
Depanama and Homagama. The Sustainable
Township Programme envisages constructing 50,000 units by 2005.
Can it be achieved? This was one
of the most far-reaching, goal-oriented projects ever initiated
in Sri Lanka. It was the joint effort of the UDA, Reclamation Corporation
and National Housing Development Authority (NHDA). They pooled
resources. The theme of this project was " housing for poor,
land for urban development". It was to operate on a "rolling-basis"
which means the UDA acquired land from various entities and this
land was used for commercial purposes. The money obtained from these
was used to build housing units at Wanathamulla and to acquire new
land which could once again be used for commercial purposes. The
people evacuated from this will be stationed in the housing units.
The youth in these households will be educated. They will move out
to middle and higher income houses somewhere else. Then a new set
will be brought in and so on. The project is still going on. There is a
lot of land adjoining the government railways. How are these unused
lands to be developed? These lands
are not owned by the UDA. There is a controversy at present as the
Railway Department, which at first agreed to hand over some land,
is now not willing to do so because it will be transformed into
an authority in the future and will be restructured. There are many
complaints that the time taken by authorities to process and deliver
approvals of building plans and issue certificates of conformity
hinders development and adds to the cost of home ownership. In 2001
the UDA planned to set up an e-net office in order to streamline
this process and enable online application. Has it achieved its
objective? This project never took off the ground as the CMC took it over. Under this project the UDA planned to use Geographical Information Systems where all information related to land is online. Under this the UDA will feed the information about the land to the system, such as who owns the land, what type of buildings are allowed, the water and sewerage systems surrounding the land, value, etc. The whole process was to be automated and approval obtained in almost a week, which now takes one to three months.
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