Colombo's underserved settlements to be addressed

Verité Research has made a study of the state of Colombo's urban poor settlements. These are referred to in economic theory as Under-Served Settlements (USS) - because they are characterised not just by poverty per se, but by the lack of Municipal Services that are due to residents of Colombo.

Past studies, such as the one conducted in 2002 by Sevanatha titled Poverty Profile of the City of Colombo (under a UMP /UN-Habitat Urban Poverty Reduction Project, along with the Colombo Municipal Council); and a further study by the Centre for Poverty Analysis (CEPA) in 2005 helps identify some of the most significant problems faced by the USS and as a result the city of Colombo.

Current studies by Verité Research reveal that while GDP growth has doubled in US$ terms, the basic services to underserved settlements have shown very little improvement since those initial studies. Typically the USS are areas which have a concentration of residential units built on State and private lands that is not owned by residents.

The nature of the topography of the underserved settlements of Colombo does not take on a territorially bounded east side/west side or rich district/poor district divide.

Rather, the underserved settlements are spread around Colombo bordering or forming enclaves within exclusive residential and prominent commercial districts. Therefore, the poor sanitary conditions and failure to provide public services are likely to have spill-over effects on the business and middleclass population in Colombo. At a time when there are increasing incidences of dengue, the CMC should take serious note.

Some common features of the USS include:

Chronic condition of services and infrastructure;

High Population Density (Approx. 820 persons per ha);

Congested housing (Each block averaging 1.5 perches);

Living Conditions of the USS have the following features -

Sources of livelihood are mostly unstable and mainly in informal sector -

Legal Ownership of land- by a small minority -

Houses built in small areas- (2 perches or less) -

Do not adhere to housing and land regulations of city. -

Lack of basic services for households -such as private access to water, toilets and solid waste collection. -

Limited basic infrastructure- such as drainage, street lighting, access roads -

Social Issues- Such as drug and alcohol addiction, crime, marital instability and child labour. The CMC should take more responsibility for Colombo's Development Besides the obvious humanitarian concerns for the plight of the populations in underserved settlements it is also of general concern for the city's well being and future development.

While much effort has been expended on cosmetic improvements in the city the CMC should regard the failure to adequately address the needs of these communities including water supply, sanitation, drainage, and the maintenance of community centres and parks as significant administrative failure that is affecting the quality of life of all Colombo residents.

The significance goes beyond the settlements in question because the poor or non functional drainage systems and lack of proper solid waste management poses serious health risks to the city of Colombo.

The knock on effects of poor drainage in some parts of the city became visible when heavy rains resulted in immediate flooding in recent years that affected large sections of the city including main highways. Flooding of homes, businesses and warehouses storing food supplies with a mixture of rain water and water from stagnating drains helped demonstrate how the lack of attention to underserved settlements which is a liability and health risk.

The sorry plight of specific communities

Some data provides a snapshot of the problems faced by dozens of underserved communities in Colombo in which problems of water supply, sanitation and drainage are major issues (see photographs taken in December 2011).

• The Chetty Street area in Colombo 13 where nearly 10,000 people lack water supplies leading to illegal water tapping or Bankshall Street Colombo 11 where 1,800 shops and offices have no water service and occupants are forced to dig tube wells.

• In many of the other underserved settlements the effects of congestion and poor planning can be seen with water supply and sewage lines running side by side.

• Some low rise housing complexes with broken drainage results in the release of faecal matter and waste water from broken pipes to the open ground below.

• The 2002 study showed that 66 percent of the underserved settlements did not have toilets for individual houses while 3 percent of communities had no access to individual or communal toilets. The CMC is responsible for carrying out integrated planning and physical development within Municipal Council Centres and implementing relevant development programs, activities and services.