http://www.defence.lk/new.asp?fname=sri_lanka_has_many_challenges_face_and_many_opportunities_exploit_says_secretary_Defence_20120320_02


Sri Lanka has many challenges to face and many opportunities to exploit" says
Secretary Defence

"As a country emerging from the shadows of terrorism into a
bright, prosperous future, Sri Lanka has many challenges to face and many
opportunities to exploit", stated Secretary Ministry of Defence and Urban
Development Mr. Gotabaya Rajapaksa.
He expressed these views today (March 20), delivering the
keynote address as Chief Guest at the inauguration ceremony of the World Bank
initiated High -Level Policy Workshop at the Cinnamon Grand, Hotel in Colombo.
The two day workshop for professionals and policy makers under the South Asia
Region Urbanization Knowledge Platform, concentrated on 'Sustainable Urban
Regeneration and Inclusive Growth for South Asian Cities'.
"The Government has a clear intention to upgrade the quality of
life of the people in slums and shanties by providing them proper housing
facilities. It is not only important to give them much higher quality places to
live in, but also to facilitate a better quality of community life for them",
Mr. Gotabaya Rajapaksa further asserted in his speech on the 'Challenges of
Urban Development from a Sri Lankan Perspective'.
Mr. Ming Zhang, Sector Manager, Urban, Water and Disaster Risk
Management, South Asia, World Bank, Guest of Honour, Jesse Robredo, Secretary,
Department of Interior and Local Government, Philippines and Ms. Abha
Joshi-Ghani, Sector Manager, Finance Economics and Urban Development, Urban
Unit, World Bank were also the distinguished speakers of the morning secession
at the event.
Mayor of the Colombo Municipal Council Mr. A.J.M Muzammil was
also present at the occasion.
Full text of the speech delivered by Secretary to the
Ministry of Defence and Urban Development at the 'South Asia Region Urbanization
Knowledge Platform', on 20th March, 2012.
"The Challenges of Urban Development
from a Sri Lankan Perspective" Keynote Speech at the Launch of the World Bank's
South Asia Region Urbanisation Knowledge Platform
Guest of Honour, Mr. Jesse Robredo, Secretary, Department of
Interior and Local Government, Government of the Philippines
Ms. Abha Joshi-Ghani, World Bank Sector Manager: Finance,
Economic & Urban Development Department
Mr. Ming Zhang, World Bank Sector Manager for South Asia Urban
Development
Mr. Greg Clark, Global City Advisor and Chairman, British
Business Improvement Districts
Ladies and Gentlemen,
I thank World Bank for having invited me to be the Chief Guest
at the Launch of the South Asia Region Urbanisation Knowledge Platform. I hope
that the sharing of knowledge that will take place through this Platform will be
to the great benefit of all the nations represented here. On behalf of the
Government, I take this opportunity to warmly welcome all of you to Sri Lanka.
It is a pleasure and an honour for us to have so distinguished a group of
international urban experts and decision makers in Sri Lanka for this event.
Less than three years ago, Sri Lanka emerged from the shadow of
a terrorist conflict that had lasted for nearly thirty years. Quite apart from
the lives lost and the affect that this conflict had on our society, its impact
on our economic development was tremendous. Now that we have achieved peace, a
rapid economic growth is taking place after many years of stagnation. Because of
the peace, stability and freedom now enjoyed throughout Sri Lanka, investors are
very confident about this county's prospects. They are showing a keen interest
to tap the great potential available in this country in many sectors. Tourists,
too, are returning to Sri Lanka in large numbers. The Government is confident
that these are healthy signs of even greater things to come.
With the on-going economic growth, a great deal of urban
regeneration is very clearly taking place in Sri Lanka. This regeneration is
taking place in the capital city of Colombo, as well as in the other cities and
towns around the country. The development of Colombo is particularly important.
Known as a gateway to Sri Lanka since ancient times, it was a centre of activity
for successive colonial administrations in past centuries and is now the
country's largest, most vibrant and most modern city. Although other cities such
as Kandy, Galle, Jaffna and the fast emerging city of Hambantota also play
important roles in the life of this nation, uplifting Colombo to a world-class
city remains a key priority of the Government.
With its rapid growth over the centuries, the urban development
of Colombo poses a diverse set of challenges. A very significant issue facing
Colombo is the large number of people who live in underserved settlements
throughout the city. During the past few decades, many people migrated to
Colombo from all around the country. A large number of them were seeking to
escape the terrorist conflict in the North and East. Others were mostly poor
people from the rural areas, attracted to Colombo because of the economic
activity and good prospects in the city.
As they lacked the wealth for proper housing facilities, most of
these people settled in poorly constructed shanties and slums that sprawl over
the cityscape. These settlements are mostly on government lands in various parts
of Colombo. Many of them are on the reservations set aside around the lakes,
canals, roadways and railway tracks. These settlements lack basic facilities and
sanitation. The hygiene of the people living in them is poor. Their living
conditions are bad, criminal activity is rife and they and their children
undergo various hardships on a daily basis. Their quality of life leaves much to
be desired. Finding a solution to this issue is one of the key challenges before
the Government.
Improving and redeveloping the infrastructure of city areas also
poses a serious challenge for urban development in Sri Lanka. The drainage
system and flood control systems require rapid improvements. A sewerage system
is present only in the city limits, and it is quite overburdened. There are also
other infrastructure related problems that impede the uplifting of living
standards. The limited space available for public spaces such as parks and other
recreational spaces has long been a serious issue. The Government is keen to
ensure that appropriate remedies are found for this problem, as access to public
spaces is a significant factor in the quality of life of all citizens.
Another significant challenge is the number of unauthorised
small boutiques that have been set up mainly on pavements, roads and
reservations in various parts of the city. These boutiques reduce space
available to commuters and prevent the expansion of roads by blocking the
reservations. A lot of problems regarding the cleaning and maintenance of roads
also arises due to the presence of these pavement hawkers. Because the people
who run these small boutiques depend on commuters en route to bus stations or
train stations for business, attempts to relocate them to other areas deprives
them of their income. We need to find a proper mechanism to enable them to
retain their livelihoods, whilst relocating them so that they no longer obstruct
pavements and roads and the proper maintenance of the city streets.
Colombo and the other cities in Sri Lanka also face very serious
difficulties regarding the management of solid waste. Garbage is typically
dumped in low-lying areas. This can have many serious consequences, including
the pollution of water and other environmental hazards for people in surrounding
areas. This is another area in which I hope fruitful discussions can take place
at this Platform, with particular emphasis on the solutions that have been
arrived at in other countries.
I believe that all of the challenges I discussed are significant
issues not only in Sri Lanka but also in the rest of the region. I hope that the
urban specialists from the World Bank and the various countries represented here
will be able to share with us their experiences and knowledge on these problems,
and discuss the ways in which these problems have been solved in other parts of
the world. As Sri Lanka moves forward into a brighter future, finding solutions
to these various issues is a high priority. The Government of Sri Lanka also
welcomes, and would greatly appreciate, any proposals of solutions for these
issues from the experts present and the institutions represented here.
At the same time, I would like to take this opportunity to
discuss with you some of the initiatives Sri Lanka has taken with regard to
urban development over the past few years. A significant programme that has been
undertaken is the rationalisation of the city of Colombo. Thirty years ago, a
city plan was developed that featured moving all government buildings and
offices out of Colombo to the adjacent administrative capital of Sri
Jayawardenepura, Kotte. A proposal was also made to develop that the
neighbouring region of Malabe as an education hub.
Over the past two years, moving the administrative buildings
from the Colombo city limits has been expedited. The construction of new office
buildings for the Government Ministries, Departments and offices at Sethsiripaya
in Battaramulla is rapidly underway. Stage II of the Sethsiripaya Complex is
nearing completion and is scheduled to open next month. Stage III of the complex
will be constructed as a Public Private Partnership. Several standalone
administrative complexes are also being created. The opening ceremony of the new
building for the Auditor General's Department took place yesterday. New
buildings will also be provided to the Department of Census & Statistics,
and the Registrar General's Department outside Colombo city limits.
Another key project being undertaken is the establishment of a
central Defence Headquarters Complex, which will house the headquarters of the
Army, Navy, Air Force as well as the Ministry of Defence. The work has already
started, and the land that was occupied by the Army headquarters near Galle Face
has been released to flagship investors for luxury hotel developments. Shangri
La Hotels and Resorts, one of the world's leading high-end hotel chains, has
already been allotted ten acres of land to establish a luxury hotel in that
location. ITC of India has signed an agreement to obtain the remainder of the
land to establish another luxury hotel. In addition to relocating Armed Forces
headquarters, a new Police Headquarters will also be constructed outside the
city.
To further rationalise space utilisation in the city, the
relocation of wholesale markets and other economic infrastructure to custom
designed locations outside the city limits is taking place. The old St. John's
fish market in Fort, which was the key wholesale market for fish in the Western
Province, has been shifted to Paliyagoda. The Manning market, which is the
wholesale market for vegetables, is also to be shifted to the same area.
Peliyagoda is poised to be a central location for the entire western province
with the construction of an Outer Circular Road. By using this road, heavy
vehicles that transport goods from these wholesale markets to retailers will be
able to avoid entering the city limits unless so required. By creating rail
links between the Colombo port and a container terminal and dry port being set
up at Paliyagoda, it will also become possible to drastically reduce container
traffic entering Colombo.
With regard to the underserved settlements, the Government has a
clear intention to upgrade the quality of life of the people in slums and
shanties by providing them proper housing facilities. It is not only important
to give them much higher quality places to live in, but also to facilitate a
better quality of community life for them. Under the Resettlement of Underserved
Settlements Project being undertaken by the Urban Development Authority, some
70,000 families living in poor conditions in Colombo will be given housing in
high rise buildings designed and constructed to a good standard. These buildings
will come up in close proximity to the original homes of these families, so that
they do not need to find different jobs or send their children to different
schools. The construction of 10,000 housing units is presently under way, and
plans are in place to expand this number by a further 15,000 during the next
year.
In this context, however, I have to note that providing proper
housing for the underserved settlements is a significant problem for town
planners and architects. Over the years, various administrations have tried to
tackle this issue, but they have had limited success. It has been observed that
relocating the urban poor to high-rise buildings causes several problems. The
people find it very difficult to adjust to their new environment. They typically
lack an interest in preserving these buildings properly, and their attention to
cleanliness is not as great as it should be. Because they are from the
low-income segment of society, they would find it difficult to maintain the
high-rise buildings properly even if they had an interest in doing so. As a
result, the cost of maintaining these buildings ultimately devolves onto the
government. With the initial construction cost of these buildings also being
very high, this makes relocating low-income segments to high-rise buildings is a
very costly exercise.
However, because the shantytowns and slums tend to be low-rise
buildings sprawled over large extents of land, one of the great benefits of the
relocation programme is that it will release a lot of prime land in Colombo for
commercial and other developments, including the creation of more public spaces.
Nevertheless, finding a more practical and end-user friendly solution to the
problem of underserved settlements is a high priority. The solutions identified
can be used for future projects to provide better housing to the people in the
underserved settlements.
An interesting programme of a somewhat different nature to the
resettlement of underserved settlements is underway in the Slave Island area.
This is the regeneration of urban spaces through Private Public Partnerships
with the cooperation of landowners. There are a large number of small private
homes and properties in this area that are old and quite run down. They need to
be replaced to enable the uplifting of the entire neighbourhood. Under a project
facilitated by the Urban Development Authority, regionally recognised players in
the property sector have undertaken to put up mixed developments with full
cooperation of the property owners. The householders will be resettled in high
quality high-rise accommodation within the same neighbourhood. It should be
noted that the problems typically facing high-rise apartment solutions to the
low-income settlement are unlikely to arise in this instance, since the people
who will reside in them will be better able to afford the cost of maintaining
the buildings.
The problem of flood prevention is another area of great concern
for the Government. This problem was caused as a result of the increase in
Colombo's population over the years. As the housing stock expanded, low-lying
areas and marshland were filled for construction purposes. This seriously
reduced the catchment areas available for water retention, and construction
related activities also often obstructed the canals and waterways critical for
drainage. As a result, the monsoonal rains can cause significant flooding in
Colombo. Solving this problem requires a number of different initiatives.
One solution presently being implemented is the dredging of
lakes to create water retention tanks in the upper catchment and lower catchment
zones of the Kotte area. Further, under a programme to be funded by the World
Bank, the drainage infrastructure of the city will be greatly strengthened.
Under this Metro Colombo Urban Development Project, the historic Beire lake will
be renovated. The lake was developed as the centrepiece of Colombo's drainage
mechanism by the Dutch more than two hundred years ago. However, it has been
largely neglected for many years. In the recent past, steps were taken to clean
its canals as an urgent response to the growing flood problem. Under the new
programme, the entire lake will be dredged and its floodgates will be repaired.
The creation of micro drainage systems and the creation of linear parks around
degraded wetlands, together with improvements to existing canals and lakes have
also been identified as important initiatives. In addition, institutional
strengthening of the agencies responsible for the city's drainage and public
infrastructure will be undertaken through this project. This will help enable
better long-term management of these issues.
While meeting all these development challenges, the Government
has been very much aware of the need to capitalise on the natural advantages
that historic cities like Colombo have. The unique blend of cultures and the
shared heritage of the various communities of this country must be highlighted
in its urban growth. There are old Colonial buildings all around Colombo and the
other cities of Sri Lanka. There are also ancient temples, kovils, mosques and
churches. There are public places with history and great symbolic value, such as
the Viharamahadevi park, or old Victoria park, and Independence Square. In
developing the city spaces, it is important to highlight this heritage. A number
of projects that have got underway in the recent past that have been
instrumental in doing so.
The recent renovation and reopening of the long neglected old
Dutch Hospital has been a tremendous success. While retaining the spirit of the
original architecture, a lot of value addition has taken place through the
transformation of the old hospital to a public open space housing high-end
shopping and restaurant facilities. The demand from the private sector for
similar spaces is very high. With that in mind, the old Colombo Racecourse,
whose buildings were originally scheduled for demolition, are presently
undergoing a similar renovation. The pavilions will be conserved and converted
to suit new activities, with the area with road frontage being converted to an
upmarket shopping complex. The ground itself will be converted to an
international standard rugby ground. A third project of a similar nature is the
conversion of the old St. John's Fish Market, which was relocated to Paliyagoda,
to a Bullion Exchange. Many more old buildings with a lot of architectural
features around the Fort area have been renovated and reutilised for commercial
purposes.
When undertaking all the development programmes discussed
earlier, the Government is taking particular care to improve the greenery of the
city and the vitality of its public spaces. Having enough public spaces for
people to relax and enjoy themselves in is very important, and the creation of
more quality public open spaces is presently underway. The development of the
Independence Square area is a good example: this public space which commemorated
Sri Lanka's independence from British rule in 1948, was not properly configured
for public access and use for many years. Under the recent programme to uplift
it, the walls that obstructed it in various places were demolished, and walkways
and cycle paths were created for the use of people. The areas around
Independence Square for people to relax and interact with each other were
improved. Similar developments have taken place around Beira Lake near Nawam
Mawatha and around the Diyawanna Oya in Battaramulla. More such developments are
coming up in Thalawathugoda, near Water's Edge, in Rampalawatta and other areas.
Similar developments must also be made in the North of Colombo, where more and
more congested areas are.
The spaces being developed will not only be accessible to the
general public, they will also be clearly visible to everyone in the city. It is
only through this visibility that the true benefit of such spaces will be felt.
Colombo is a very green city, but unfortunately most of the greenery had been
shut off from public view through the erection of high walls and fences due to
the conflict over the years. Not only was the greenery obscured, the beautiful
architecture of many of the city's buildings was also hidden behind these walls.
People traveling through the city were unable to see its beauty; instead, they
only saw congested city spaces surrounded by high walls. That had a definite
impact on the sense of freedom felt by the general public. With many of these
walls being demolished, Colombo is now a much more pleasant city to live in.
What we have accomplished so far is only a start. Much more remains to be done.
The preservation of waterfront views is another important thing
to consider. For too long, hotels and commercial developments near waterfronts
and the seafront have obscured them from public view. The view of the waterfront
should not be something exclusive to hotel guests and people working in
commercial buildings adjacent to waterfronts; they should be open for the
general public to see and appreciate. A further initiative that should be
implemented in future is the removal of the large billboards that have
mushroomed all over the urban areas. By adopting a proper policy for billboard
advertising, it will be possible to better highlight the natural beauty of our
city spaces.
Through the measures just discussed, the Government hopes that
Colombo will be transformed into a world-class city that can be the centrepiece
of Sri Lanka's economic revival. By upgrading commercial, residential and public
facilities in the city to a very high quality, the city will not only become an
easier one to live in, but will also become a lot more attractive from the point
of view of international investment. With its close proximity to the
international airport, an expanded and upgraded port, and much improved land
communication infrastructure including an Outer Circular Road and Expressways to
other large cities, Colombo will become a true commercial and economic hub. This
is an essential prerequisite for fast-tracking our economic development.
At the same time, the Government has taken steps to develop
cities and towns in the rest of the country. Urban development programmes have
been undertaken in all parts of Sri Lanka. A number of regional development
programmes have already produced impressive results. Even before the end of the
war, a great deal of work was done in the Eastern province to upgrade
infrastructure and create higher quality facilities. A similar programme was
enacted in the North soon after the dawn of peace. The amount of work that has
been done in a short span of time is quite laudable. The on-going development of
towns such as Jaffna, Kilinochchi and Mankulam will result in the people of
those areas gaining access to a much higher quality of urban life.
A large number of small and medium mini towns are scheduled to
be developed from each District during this year. These include towns such as
Imaduwa and Akuressa in Galle, Urubokka in Matara, Eheliyagoda in Ratnapura,
Narammala and Panduwasnuwara in Kurunegala, Dankotuwa and Naththandiya in
Puttalam, as well as Mannar, Haputale and Diyatalawa. These are towns that have
long been neglected, and their infrastructure and public spaces will be
significantly revamped. This will create a much-improved living environment in
these town areas. An example of a very successful recent project of this nature
has been the upgrading of Matara, which is being rapidly developed. Another is
Nuwara Eliya; particularly in the areas surrounding Lake Gregory, the
transformation that has been achieved is quite remarkable.
As a country emerging from the shadow of terrorism into a
bright, prosperous future, Sri Lanka has many challenges to face and many
opportunities to exploit. I hope that the officials and urban specialists of our
country can learn a lot from the experts and participants from other nations
present at this Knowledge Platform. Perhaps these other participants can also
learn something from the Sri Lankan experiences regarding urban development. The
sharing of information and knowledge amongst experts from various countries is
extremely important, and I would like to take this opportunity to congratulate
and thank the World Bank for taking this initiative, and for hosting this
Platform in Colombo. In concluding, let me wish all of you a very pleasant,
productive and enjoyable stay in our beautiful country.
Thank you.