Editorial

With the worst of the recent floods in 21 of the country’s 24 districts costing 28 lives now somewhat receding, there is no better time to think of a substantive solution to what is now an annual, or even bi-annual feature in this country; floods and droughts. Before the next drought and the next flood appears, this is the time for an Action Plan.

Floods and droughts were somewhat spaced out in yesteryears. Of late, however, we have seen them occur more frequently. That is not counting landslides. All this is part man-made, and part global warming (also man-made).
To refer to these as ‘natural disasters’ is, therefore, a misnomer. Sri Lanka has been unable to manage pressing flood-and-droughts contributory factors like deforestation, sand mining, dredging wetlands, unplanned housing, drainage, garbage, landfills and sewerage. The Megapolis and Western Development Ministry is at least trying to work out solutions. It has just announced a mega project to build tunnels that will take the underground storm water through to the sea with Chinese engineering to keep the capital city from frequent flooding.

Otherwise, the most politicians seem capable of doing is to go around distributing flood relief or drought relief supplies to affected parties and have their photographs in the media. At the drop of a hat, they will telephone world capitals and beg for aid.

A foreign company interested in flood control measures points out to an uptick in floods in Colombo over the last decade. In 2016 and 2017, large areas of the capital were inundated as the South Western monsoon began in May. A flood risk assessment done by the Metro Colombo Urban Development Project last year calculated that the Colombo District suffers damage and other losses to the tune of US dollars 45 million (Rs. 7 billion) a year from floods and heavy rain.

A ‘smart’ water grid that integrates existing technologies such as sensors, rainfall measurements, automation technologies, intelligent pumping systems, data analytics and Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) is proposed. No doubt these cost money but considering the costs incurred each time there is flooding both in human lives and to property, the cost-benefit factor has to be taken into consideration.

In the provinces, the political will to enforce existing environment laws is absent. On the other hand it is the local politician who helps a voter to break the law in the hope of getting his vote which can be to the peril of the very person who he appears to be doing a favour.

Recognising illegalities

Coinciding with the collapse of many houses due to the recent floods partly due to poor material used and due to them being constructed on slippery slopes, the Housing and Construction Ministry is proposing an Apartment Ownership (Special Provisions) Bill that will in effect, legalise illegal constructions in state-built condominiums. The Secretary wrote to us this week clarifying the move which we publish on Page 1, but the explanation falls short of being convincing.

Will this move only embolden citizens to disobey the laws of the land and ignore them in the future?
We are told that the decision taken by the authorities was the outcome of a survey conducted following the collapse of an illegally constructed building at Wellawatte (Colombo 6) not long ago. It was discovered that the foundation had been built on the sandy banks of a canal. This was a private building that served as a hall for wedding receptions. Fortunately there was no greater calamity than that which occurred. The survey found that in Colombo 4 (Bambalapitiya) and Colombo 6 there were at least 200 illegally constructed private and state buildings, 60 of them over three floors, and 20 used as offices.

Ministry officials argue that people have been living in these illegal dwellings for decades and cannot give them as dowries or obtain loans. They are at pains to explain the proposal does not extend to giving immunity to the private sector constructions. By that they recognise the fact that illegal construction is a bad thing and a danger to society at large. What is sauce for the goose then should be sauce for the gander. What is the logic in giving this concession to the state condominium properties that have broken prevailing laws and not been in conformity with building plans?
The Certificate of Conformity (CoC) granted by municipalities and local councils to both private and state sector housing and buildings is nowadays a veritable joke. Bribery and political influence is the order of the day. Building plans are not even looked at. Objections are raised not on plans but when no palms are greased at the local council, or there’s no political peddling involved.

The Ministry’s move is a total capitulation to bribery and political influence in the issuing of CoCs. This is the easy way out. In this exercise the Government has taken the side of the law breaker. Many residents in public housing complain that the unscrupulous among their neighbours have even put balconies over their air space cutting off the wind; built toilets with illegal connection to the sewage lines and some have even made additional rooms in the public space reserved for all the residents of a housing complex.

So much so that in some government flats, ambulances have found it difficult to enter the premises and fire engines cannot make it to certain areas of the buildings in cases of emergency because of these illegal constructions. All these are now to be made legal at the discretion of the Ministry.

In Mirissa recently there was a tussle between some politicians over orders to break up illegal structures that had mushroomed on the beach creating issues for tourists. There were those who spoke of the “livelihood” of those who owned those structures, the livelihood usually being the sale of narcotics. As it impacted on the dollar bringing tourist industry, there eventually was a Presidential directive to proceed with clearing up the illegal structures. The job was done.

In this case, the Ministry is straining to peg its move by referring to the badly built tsunami housing and justify regularising irregularities in the state housing sector. In the North only last week, the Cabinet approved a contract for 65,000 housing units for the ‘war affected’. This Ministry decision is a case for the prospective contractors to do some shoddy work and seek exemptions later.

The Government may be showing some consideration towards long-time dwellers who do not have title to their properties. Which one of them is entitled to such concessions is a matter for the Ministry to decide. Kissing will go by favour. Trying to win votes is one thing. But then we need to forget about talking of discipline, and the Singapore model, only to wait for the next building to collapse.