UDA acronym shouldn’t change to Urban Destruction Authority:Residents
View(s):Residents of Initium Road Dehiwela charge that Dehiwala-Mount Lavinia Municipal Council (DMMC) has approved an illegal condominium building.
The resident has said he is inconvenienced by this as on the Western side of his boundary, a high rise with four floors obstructing cross ventilation and sunlight is coming up.
In 2014, the DMMC approved a condominium building with 17 floors within 43 perches of land on the Eastern boundary of this resident’s property against all norms of the existing planning and building regulations, a resident said.
On an appeal made by the residents in 2014, the proposed development was cancelled at the request of the then Chairman of the Urban Development Authority (UDA).
“Subsequently, the developer has managed to obtain approval from the DMMC and has commenced the construction of the condominium building within the property on this resident’s Eastern boundary. The rear space for the condominium building should have been kept on his side, but the developer has omitted to do so without any valid reasons,” a letter forwarded to the Business Times by some residents said.
Assurances
This was first brought to the notice of the Minister of Megapolis in 2015 through a letter and residents had obtained an encouraging verbal assurance from the Minister.
The property owner had appealed to the chairman of the UDA in April 2016 regarding the suspicious construction taking place and another letter to the chairman of the UDA on July 2017. But recently he heard the UDA has approved this development and that they have allowed the rear space of the building contrary to the said regulations, denying the entire cross ventilation to his house and proper sunlight.
“Can this development be constructed as a healthy development? Will any learned professional in town planning be able to justify it as a proper development?” another resident queried.
The residents’ letter added: “Residents Associations of Dehiwala and Mount Lavinia earnestly request the UDA to create a conducive situation to retain the acronym of UDA as Urban Development Authority rather than Urban Destruction Authority, by locating the High Rise Building (as stipulated in the 1986 regulation) among the peaceful residential area, without adopting the relaxed regulations of Colombo Municipal Council area.”