The cleanest and greenest in Asia:

Colombo, the best 'livable city' in 2016 - the goal

By Shirajiv Sirimane

The Hyatt Regency Colombo being built opposite Temple Trees The Dawson Grand Towers, the luxury penthouse, studio and standard tower at Bauddhaloka Mawatha, Colombo 7 is built by Keangnam

The City of Colombo, which was established as Sri Lanka's (then Ceylon) capital by the British colonial rulers, expanded later with growth in the overall economy, although the expansion was curtailed to some extent due to the three-decade terrorism. Hence, the city lacked the infrastructure while also not being properly urbanised in addition to lagging behind many of its regional peers, thus leaving ample space for the metropolis to develop.

Therefore, the need for the airport and Colombo Port to be expanded, along with other infrastructure to be improved, arose to accommodate the increasing number of tourists and business travellers, returning expatriates and a significant estimated growth in Foreign Direct Investments. Thus, urbanisation and modern development are much needed for the city which is fast becoming a regional hub.

The Krrish Square would be the tallest building in Colombo with 85 floors built by Krrish Group, India

The refurbished Cargills building in Colombo

To meet these demands, the Colombo City is fast changing with heavy construction going on, initiated by both the public and private sector. The development is so intense that one could see new structures being added to the Colombo skyline almost every month.

Historic goal

These developments are mainly targeted towards achieving a historic goal... of making Colombo the best 'livable city' in 2016. Plans are already being made to bid for the 'Lee Kuan Yew World City Prize' for the 'Best Livable City' award in 2016. This ambitious task has been undertaken by the Urban Development Authority (UDA) on a proposal by Secretary Defence Gotabaya Rajapaksa.

The 2012 prize was awarded to New York City, for its remarkable transformation from one at risk in the post-September 11 period, to one scaling new heights. New York is the second winner of this award since the prize was started in 2009. It was selected by the Nominating Committee and the Prize Council from 62 nominations received from across the world, after a rigorous two-tier selection process.

Hyderabad was also shortlisted for this award which means a city in Asia too could vie for this prestigious award.

In Colombo, steps have been taken by improving the quality of the road network and beautification of the city to make the metropolis one of the greenest and cleanest cities in Asia.

One of the biggest problems in Colombo was flooding, especially near the Colombo University and in areas such as Kotte. Several artificial lakes were created with parks being built in these areas to collect excess water and this has proved to be successful as the flooding has decreased to a great extent. Canals were cleaned and a new speed boat service is on the cards which would help passenger transport to a great extent.

The second gray area in the City of Colombo was the shanties. Statistics revealed that over 18,000 acres in the city were occupied by them. Though some shanties were unauthorised, the UDA went out of its way, not only to relocate the inhabitants, but also to provide them quality housing with attached toilets and two rooms in place of their current 'all in one room' shelter.

Shanty-dwellers

While providing a better place to live for the shanty-dwellers, wooing high-end tourists was another aim of the Colombo beautification process. At the last World Tourism Awards held in London, these efforts were recognised with Sri Lanka winning an award, which was received by Chairman, Sri Lanka Tourism Promotion Bureau, Bashwara Gunaratne. To cater to the required capacity, an increase and expansion in hotels, apartments, office and retail space, many projects including mixed developments are being executed. Due to the disparity between the currently needed capacities and the actually completed projects, a deficit in supply exists.

According to a survey carried out by TKS Securities (Pvt) Ltd, several projects have already commenced."The Government, through the State-owned Urban Development Authority, is involved in the city development while many private companies have proposed projects," the report said.

Out of the listed companies, those such as John Keells Holdings, Colombo Land and Development, Overseas Realty and Access Engineering have grabbed such opportunities.

"In the five-star city hotel segment, a shortfall of 1,500 hotel rooms by 2016 would be seen in meeting the expected tourist arrivals trend where the city is currently equipped with 2,000 hotel rooms. A deficit would be evident till 2016/17 as only two five-star hotels out of the proposed projects are off the ground currently (of capacity 700 rooms). "At present, the total number of apartment projects ranging from standard to luxury levels in and around Colombo adds up to 100, with most of these falling into the standard category," it said

The demand for luxury and semi-luxury apartments mainly comes from Sri Lankan expatriates with the objective of renting the purchased units. Hence, the gradual increase in apartment capacity would meet the slowly growing demand for apartments in line with the maturing city.

Limited space

Due to limited prominent office space available in the capital and a few office spaces been proposed, there is ample opportunity in this segment. Proposed retail space and other mixed developments would see the demand changing mainly with the increasing number of tourists from the Indian subcontinent while the gaming industry would go hand in hand to create a new demand wave.

The country, having an annual tourist count exceeding one million, would see an additional demand with the growth in this segment, which is a common site in many Asian countries such as Thailand (a Buddhist country) and Malaysia (a Muslim country) as well as all over the world.

Currently, Colombo is only equipped with 2,000 five-star rooms which is not enough to meet the demand. With the completion of the Movenpick and Hyatt projects, there would be another 700 rooms being added during the next three to four years.

Apart from these city hotels coming up, new luxury and semi-luxury apartments, in addition to the standard apartments are being developed in and around Colombo. At the moment, Colombo and the suburbs have 100 apartment projects ranging from standard to luxury and most of them are fully sold out or al least 80 percent sold. The highest demand exists for semi-luxury apartments.

It was evident that most of those apartment units are bought by Sri Lankan expatriates to be rented out to other parties with very few of the owners actually living in them. Demand for such apartment units also comes from families of businessmen living in rural areas who seek the convenience of schools, higher education and employment associated with the location of apartments.

Some of the main mixed development projects that would help Colombo increase its claim for the 'most livable city' award are Havelock City, Krrish Square, AVIC Mixed Development, Crown Mixed Development Project, Integrated Resort by John Keells Holdings, Hyatt Regency Colombo, EoN Resorts, Liberty Square and Tower and Platinum One.

New apartments

The apartments that are planned include Fairway Sky Gardens, Iconic 110 Parliament Road, Altair Luxury Residencies, ON320 Apartments and Destiny Apartments, Malls and Residency.

The hotels that are currently being built include Movenpick Colombo, Shangri-La Colombo, Sheraton Colombo, Marino Sands Hotel, ITC Hotel and Suncity Business Hotel.

In a state of transformation, the metropolis would emerge as one of Asia's greenest and cleanest cities and is making a strong comeback to reach the standard of Asia's garden city, Singapore.

Colonial buildings and other large buildings in prime locations in the city have been refurbished and rented to earn an income while catering to the demand, by the UDA.

Another segment that is taking shape is malls which includes the Colombo City Centre. Office spaces are being built by Access Realities Tower. After terrorism ended in 2009, the demand for office space in Colombo increased drastically.

However, at that time, the only sizeable office spaces available in Colombo were the World Trade Centre (750,000 square feet in total), HNB Towers and Access Towers (200,000 square feet in total). Subsequent to the demand, the rents also doubled in the Colombo commercial complexes.

In addition to these areas, the road network coupled with the free flow of traffic within the city, international standard pavements providing access to the visually handicapped, recreational, shopping and entertainment complexes are also being developed. These would take Colombo to a new phase and the country closer to its goal of becoming the Wonder of Asia.