Dehiwela residents obtain stay order against builder
View(s):Sixteen residents of Atapattu Road, Dehiwela obtained a stay order against a high rise developer last month for breaching Urban Development Authority (UDA) rules.
On September 21, the Court of Appeal granted interim relief to the 16 petitioners against Greenfield Development, court documents show.
The residents went to court against this builder alleging a violation of planning and building regulations of the UDA in terms of the maximum number of floors of the development at Atapattu Road.
This road doesn’t have 6 metres’ width that’s needed to construct a high rise of a ground plus five floors. It stands at 5.10 metres but Greenfield was granted approval by the Dehiwela Mount Lavinia Municipal Council (DMMC) to build six floors including the ground floor car park.
It’s learnt that the DMMC has moved another floor with three apartments as an extension to originally approved building permit.
Residents say that there is a serious traffic problem during peak hours, because the road is used by outside motorists as a by-pass road from Hospital road to Karagampitiya. The pressure in the two inch line laid more than 25 years back by the National Water Supply and Drainage Board is hardly enough to satisfy the needs of existing residents. The power supply is also not reliable where frequent break-downs are experienced by the residents due to over loading. If another 18 apartments will be added in a 20 perch land, the situation in Atapattu Road will get worse, a resident told the Business Times.
Section 13 of UDA Regulations provides for submission of detailed structural plans together with design calculations, results of soil tests, soil bearing capacity, type of foundations, type of piles, method of pile drilling and machinery to be used for piling work. However, it is learnt that the building permit was approved without any of these information.
Almost all the residents of road signed a letter objecting to the proposed construction work and handed over this to the DMMC with no positive results from the authorities, the resident of Atapattu Road said.
| Dehiwela Residents’Association gets activated | |
| The Dehiwela Residents’ Association is now fully functional with over 150 resident households in Dehiwela area becoming members over the past month. “We will probably double this number within the next two weeks,” Krishantha De Silva, co-convener Dehiwela Residents’ Association (DRA) told the Business Times. He said they appointed the DRA committee and are now in the process of collecting members. He noted that most residents are facing a myriad of issues owing to high-rises on narrow roads and general discomfort and welcomed the DRA. “Our ethos is to stand up for what is right and want to be a catalyst to represent residents in their day to day issues pertaining to municipal matters that has been neglected. We stand against illegal construction projects that violate UDA guidelines, inefficient garbage collection and other common issues that continue to be neglected by officials.” He added that DRA members and any other residents in the area can reach out to the DRA on any issues and they are glad to explore how these residents can be assisted. “The Dehiwela Residents Association would like to invite all residents in the area to join us to highlight common issues such as unauthorised apartment complexes, irregular garbage collection, poor condition of road and drainage, etc.,” Mr. De Silva added. Residents in the area are requested to email the association on DehiwalaRA@gmail.com. Mr. De Silva added that they got an overwhelming response on the DRA Facebook page in less than 72 hours of uploading it. “Many residents contact the Dehiwala Residents Association Facebook page and this response has been overwhelming.” |