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| Sunday, 19 June 2005 |
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Features |  |
| News Business Features Editorial
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Home on the
horizon
by Shanika Sriyananda
There is good news for a majority of people living in multi coloured canvas tents along the costal belt. Soon they will be 'proud' owners of new houses. Displaced and distressed, their lives were turned upside down on December 26, when killer waves wrought havoc to their lives and lifestyles. Given temporary shelters, many thought they would be compelled to live permanently in the small canvas houses for ever. Living in small tents with minimal facilities for months, they all had just one dream - a house of their own- today. Most of the victims still depend on relief and do not have any means to build their own houses. Life in a small canvas tent is a nightmare to those who had enjoyed comfortable lives 'once a upon a time'. The media, both local and international have alleged that the government housing reconstruction efforts are being carried out at a snails pace and that tsunami housing aid is being misused and mismanaged. But it does provide the only ray of hope for the victims, desperate for a house of their own.
According to post tsunami reconstruction plans houses will be built on small plot of lands 'donated' by the state. The new settlements will provide the tsunami victims not only quality new houses, but also improved infrastructure facilities, including new roads and uninterrupted supply electricity and water. "It won't be a distant dream", assures Dr. Suran Batagoda, Chief Executive Officer of the Tsunami Housing Reconstruction Unit (THRU), adding that the ground is being set to complete the construction of over 50,000 new houses before the end of the first quarter of next year. Especially established to expedite housing reconstruction in the tsunami hit areas, the THRU engages in housing construction in 11 districts and targets to build nearly 50,000 houses. According to Dr. Batagoda, over 36,393 houses were completely damaged and 36,168 were partly damaged. Under THRU housing projects, those whose houses were fully or partly damaged will get new houses. "Local and foreign donors have been assigned to build over 40,000 housing units so far and we need some more donors to build the rest of the houses", he says. Over 333 new settlements will come up in the 11 districts in state and private lands purchased by the government. The new settlements, which will be outside the buffer zone will have all infrastructure facilities. Some will be small settlements consisting of 10 houses and some will be large settlements with over 1,600 houses. "Our main aim is to provide quality shelters for the tsunami victims and to achieve this target we might get the assistance of the all state agencies. From the point of laying the foundation stones until the house is handed over to the beneficiary, these state agencies will supervise the quality during the nine-months period given to the donors to build the houses", Dr. Batagoda adds. Refuting allegations against the government, Dr. Batagoda says that no one can point his or her finger at the government saying that people have not been given adequate shelter. "Over 32,000 transitional accommodation have been provided to those who were in canvas tents and camps upto now. The balance temporary housing units will be completed before the end of June", he assures. A transitional house built on 200 square feet comprises two bed rooms, kitchen and a living room and the owners have to live in it for two years. The temporary houses have been built outside the buffer zone and some of them have been built at the camp sites and some within the new settlements, where the permanent houses are to be built. He says that constructing 50,000 houses is not an easy task as it involves many state agencies including several Ministries. "First, lands have to be identified, then surveyed, and the lay-outs have to be designed. The last stage is assigning the number of houses to donors. This process cannot be completed overnight", he points out. The minimum size of a permanent house is 500 square feet and will have two bed rooms, a living room and kitchen. The size of the land given to the beneficiaries will vary depending on the land availability in each district. "The smallest land will be 4 perches and the maximum will be 20 perches. The architectural design of the house will also vary and most probably the design will be selected by the donors with the consent of the beneficiaries. Most of the houses will be normal housing units but in areas which have less land, there will be three storey flats," Dr. Batagoda explains. The THRU will grant a housing loan to repair or re-build houses outside the buffer zone that were damaged during the tsunami. The initial loan amount of Rs. 250,000 will be granted to those whose houses were fully damaged to build a new house and Rs. 100,000 for partly damaged houses. According to Dr. Batagoda, those who completed the house with the first grant are entitled to another Rs. 500,000 as a loan on concessionary rate from a state bank. "Over 15,000 people whose houses were fully damaged have already been awarded grants, with the assistance of the World Bank, and the Swedish and German governments", he says. According to Dr. Batagoda, THRU housing projects are progressing very well and he is confident enough that foundations for over 50,000 houses will be laid before the end of August, if the THRU construction activities proceed ahead at the present speed. "Over 100 news houses built by donors have been handed over to the beneficiaries in Hambantota, Galle and Ampara districts, 273 houses have been built upto roof level, walls of 200 houses have been completed and foundations for 1,000 new housing units have already been laid," he adds. According to Dr. Batagoda another 16,000 new houses will commence construction before end of June and 24,000 will commence construction before July 15. The THRU has paid special attention to protect the environment in building new settlements which spans acres, amounting to 90,000 houses. A separate Unit to look after the status of the environment in each district has also been set up at the THRU with the assistance of the Central Environment Authority. "Environment Assessments will be carried out in each district and if there is any environmental problems, special attention will be paid to minimise or mitigate such problems before commencing the construction", he says. Getting a satisfactory support from the LTTE for THRU activities in the North and East, the Tamil Rehabilitation Authority has signed MOUs to build new houses for these victims. The fisher folks, who suffered major damages due to the tsunami will be given priority in the distribution of houses and they will be given houses closest to the sea within the settlements to facilitate them to continue with their livelihood. However, according to Dr. Batagoda there are some lapses in expediting the housing construction projects. Acquisition of land, surveying and mapping are the main problems that hinder the THRU progress. Over 4800 acres of land is required to resettle the tsunami victims. Over 1300 acres of private lands, at the present market values have been acquired by the THRU to set up new settlements. "With these difficulties, our target is to provide permanent shelter for the tsunami victims as soon as possible. But one must not forget that this is not an easy task - rebuilding of over 77,561 houses within a year - in a country which constructs less than 8,000 houses per year", he says. |
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