'Welcome to our sprawling urban jungle'

by Tharuka Dissanaike

This year's theme for World Environment Day, which fell last Sunday, was dedicated to Green Cities. The theme is very apt for Sri Lanka where every urban niche shows all the signs of environmental ill-health and very little is being done to address these issues or improve the status of these ever expanding towns.

The concept of green cities is a pipe dream in an era when cities are turning more and more brown, without necessary interventions to prevent the looming environmental crisis.

Thankfully, we do not have the sprawling, huge cities that many countries do. Even in our close neighbourhood, in India, in Pakistan and in Bangladesh there are mega cities- with tens of millions of population.

Sri Lanka's largest urban centre is Colombo, where the population is around a million and yet, our cities are the worst environmental nightmare. According to population estimates, Sri Lanka is on a fast track towards urbanization. In another 50 years, as many as 70 percent of people will have migrated from their rural village areas seeking employment and residence in urban areas.

Not necessarily Colombo, but many of the semi-urban and peri-urban towns in the Western Province will expand hugely- in towns like Kiribathgoda, Wattala, Maharagama and Moratuwa it is already happening and the coming years will see larger populations plus more workplaces, shops etc.

Rural-urban migration and the expansion of town and townships mean that serious attention will have to be paid to infrastructure and pollution. Taking care of the environment of the towns is a big responsibility- both to its citizens and to the local authority.

Unfortunately almost every local authority, municipality and Pradeshiya Sabha appears to be incapable of keeping their towns in order at present. One dreads to imagine the situation in 50 years time, when urban centres will overflow with people.

Look at any town- whether Mt. Lavinia or Chilaw or Matara or Bandarawela. They all have environmental problems in common- uncollected solid waste is a big one. If collected the dumping and management of this solid waste presents an even bigger problem. Most towns simply dump the waste on a 'lonely' roadside with absolutely no protection to the soil. Littering on city streets, blocked drains, lack of storm water drainage, inability to supply good water to the populace, pollution and over-extraction of ground water resources, state of urban roads, lack of urban facilities like playgrounds, green areas and recreation.

In the larger towns like Colombo and Kandy air pollution is a much talked about issue that has not yet had any concrete solutions. Dust pollution is rampant in all urban areas. Blocked drains and collected garbage breed diseases. The rise of Dengue in the past few years in a direct result of badly managed urban growth.

Poor urban planning is the bane of almost every town. Belated attempts to put some semblance of order into our normally chaotic cities have not shown real results.

Our towns, even those as small as Balangoda or Kosgoda, are ugly and ad hoc. Shops and businesses operate right on the road blocking long distance traffic on main roads, while markets are located without parking facilities.

Urban residential areas are worse with very little attention to pollution and waste discharge and ground water extraction. Often residential, industrial and commercial areas end up in an unplanned mix, creating problems for all, but mostly disturbing the health and peace of mind for those living in cities.

Imagine, if we cannot manage our small cities, towns and urban centres today, how will we face the challenge that is coming, when seven out of ten people will live in an urban area?