UDA gets tough with building approvals
All large scale buildings with a potential critical impact on the built environment have to get approval from the Urban Development Authority (UDA) under new rules that came into effect in February.
This is after corruption and rampant malpractices in recent times when obtaining approvals for buildings, officials said. Earlier granting these approvals was vested on the respective jurisdiction of the municipal council
(MC) in the area of the proposed building, Jagath Munasinghe, Chairman UDA told the Business Times.
Way back in the late 1970s all the sanctions for buildings were with the local authorities who had jurisdiction over urban areas. “Then under the Urban Development Authority Act certain areas were declared by the subject minister as ‘urban’,” he said.
As time went by these areas became larger and it was too much for the UDA to handle. So in mid ’80s, the approvals returned to the local authorities/MCs,” Mr. Munasinghe explained.
But then corruption happened. “So we took back some powers pertaining to approvals, etc to the UDA on large developments that have a critical impact on the built environment,” Mr. Munasinghe explained further.
He added that there’s a list of requirements which a building should be under where UDA approval is required.
These cover any building that is more than 4,000 square feet, that has more than four storeys, impact (negatively) on the environment and those buildings that are on heritage, environmentally sensitive (such as coastalareas) and sacred sites.
| Mt.Lavinia has most illegal constructions The Western Province Megapolis Ministry is ferreting out illegal constructions after the collapse of the 7-storey building in Wellawatte recently. Its Minister Champika Ranawaka quoting a survey that the ministry has done said the most number of illegal buildings are in Mount Lavinia. The Dehiwala-Mount Lavinia Municipality has more than 4,000 unauthorised structures, he told the Business Times. Authorities say that those in power during the last regime had made ‘billions of rupees’ during their tenure with such construction approvals. “The officers have approved the project basically for their own profit,” a resident in the area told the Business Times. The Minister said 10,000 unapproved buildings have been found in Colombo so far. In a coastal belt between Bambalapitiya and Wellawatte in Colombo’s southern suburbs, there were 1,800 ‘illegal constructions’, he said. Some Mount Lavinia citizens of the area are planning to go to the highest authorities to fight against builders who have managed to circumvent the law. Many building permits have been approved by local authorities in violation of UDA regulations. |
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