Urban Development and Housing Minister Prasanna Ranatunga has directed the relevant authorities to immediately begin a programme to ensure the safety of residents in all housing schemes that are over 40-years-old.
This follows reports that 869 houses and 619 shops in eight housing schemes have been declared to be unsafe by the Condominium Management Authority (CMA). They include housing schemes in Bambalapitiya, Wekanda, Maligawatta and Mihindu Mawatha.
These buildings, although outwardly appearing pristine to all intents and purposes obviously have defects that place the tenants at risk. Whether they are construction defects or ravages of time is now irrelevant.
The Minister’s decision to carry out a full assessment to verify the safety aspect of such buildings and constructions is indeed a timely one. As the saying goes, a stitch in time saves nine.
One recalls the tragedy that occurred in Dangolla in Kandy sometime ago when a hotel constructed in a high elevation caved in and collapsed into a residence below causing many deaths. It was later found that the hotel was constructed on unsafe terrain and the Local Government (LG) officials were bribed into approving the plan.
Such skullduggery cannot be ruled out with regard to the many of the constructions in Colombo and suburbs whose LG bodies are teeming with corrupt officials as is all too well known. Even the housing schemes built by the late President R. Premadasa when he was Housing Minister which are now certainly more than 40-years-old should be brought under scrutiny.
There were complaints even at the time that the locations where these housing schemes were put up were chosen haphazardly with no consideration given to factors such as the environmental impact. The heavy flooding in the surrounding areas of these schemes was also attributed to poor locations. Even the quality of the construction of some of these housing schemes has been called into question.
The late President, known as the poor man’s President, had provided a yeoman service in offering shelter to the homeless as the Housing Minister and there were those even in high authority who were well-versed in the subject who overlooked the safety factor at the time.
These ‘flats’ as they are called served to address the housing problems of a large number of City dwellers among the lower and middle income groups and who formed a bloc vote for President Premadasa who won Colombo Central with record majorities at every election.
However, it is now time to revisit these constructions after decades of vagaries to ensure they could further withstand the pressure and pose no risk to their tenants. The Minister apparently has the authority to acquire any of these properties if they are deemed unsafe, in terms of the relevant laws. If so, it must also be ensured that the occupants would be provided with alternative shelters until such time they are relocated in their renewed quarters preferably in the same locations as the original buildings.
Those living in Government housing schemes particularly in the areas of Maradana and Maligawatte, a majority of whom are unemployed, have entrenched interests pertaining to their economic survival in the localities of these housing schemes - both legal and otherwise -and any attempt to relocate them is bound to be met with resistance. This was seen during the attempt to clear the Kompannavidiya slums by then Defence Secretary Gotabaya Rajapaksa who also doubled as Secretary to the Ministry of Urban Development.
The slum dwellers obviously had their own underground economy to help them survive and would not budge. In the end it took the deployment of the Army to evict them. Minister Ranatunga certainly would not want to witness a similar scenario at a time the Government is having enough on its plate.
The Minister should take steps to inspect the quality of all constructions in the City that pose a danger. There are roads snaking through Fort and Pettah that are of colonial vintage which pose the threat of caving in. Along with looking into the safety of housing complexes, the Minister also should do something to tackle flooding in Colombo City.
We are still saddled with a sewerage system that is of colonial vintage built during an era when the population of the City was not even a fraction of its present day strength, despite a promise by the late Minister Mangala Samaraweera, when he was Urban Development Minister during the Chandrika Bandaranaike Kumaratunga presidency, to rip off its guts and replace it with a modern system to cope with the flood problem. Minister Ranatunga should also think of following up the Colombo City’s beautification programme earnestly pursued by Gotabaya Rajapaksa which gave it a facelift and also won for the latter much praise irrespective of party politics.
Now that all the beggars have been evicted from Galle Face Green and musical shows and political rallies banned at the venue, the Minister should pay attention to redevelop the Green as a place exclusively for leisure and recreation which also at one time was central to the Colombo City being described as the Garden City of Asia.
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