A visitor, returning to Colombo after a few years absence could well be justified in asking, "Whatever happened to the garden city?" Colombo, as we know it, is a city terribly lacking in park and recreational space. While the skyline continues to rise and the commercial areas look like permanent construction sites, the metropolis is fast losing many of its "lung" spots or "green" areas.
Today Colombo is a picture of neglect. It is a city where garbage collectors would never go out of work, where civil works departments feel compelled to drill up main roads at regular intervals, where traffic police are made to feel like ants swimming upstream in a flowing drain and commuters are forced to hold their breath every time they pass any waterway.
The population of the city- which is an estimated one million is continuously increasing. Housing schemes and luxury apartment complexes are the order of the day. Many visitors also flock to the city for entertainment and recreation from outstations and suburbs.
But what has happened to Columbo's parks?
If one wants to enjoy a quiet evening away from the concrete jungle atmosphere or take the children outdoors to play or go for walks/jogs or picnics, the Colombo resident is at a loss. One could, of course, travel out of the city. But time and cost taken into consideration, this is not always possible. It is the duty of the city officials -The Urban Development Authority and the Colombo Municipality - to ensure that there is sufficient recreational facilities within the city for residents and visitors to enjoy.
More specifically, well loved places like Galle Face, Beira Lake and even the Victoria Park cannot be enjoyed by the populace. The Dehiwela Zoo, once considered to be one of the best zoos in the world paid a stiff price for years of neglect and is only now being spruced up thanks to an ongoing project to clean it up.
The rehabilitation project for Galle Face (Green ?) started some three years ago was expected to be completed in time for the arrival of Pope John Paul 11 in January 1995. But today, it is still a mass of bulldozed earth- with hardly a patch of grass visible.
"We have already called for tenders for the grass works," Director Design and Project Management of the UDA, Piyal Silva explains.
"Right now it is at the stage of evaluation by a committee at the UDA. By the end of this year, the entire Galle Face would be green and ready to be used." he promises.
He admitted that there had been some delays in the project. "For security reasons we once had to stop the leveling work. Some times the contractor was asked to redo the work for more satisfactory results."
"The civil works are over. Now we are going ahead with the water works- handled by the Water Supply Board and grass planting," Silva said. He said that the grass planting will be done in four zones, so that the entire Galle Face would not be closed off from the public. Phase 11 of the project would involve beautifying the environs of the Green by planting trees on the road side etc. and this would commence once the present work is done. The project is entirely funded by the government.
Columbo's worst stench-(no prizes for guessing this one) is undoubtedly the Beira lake. Like the Galle Face Green, the Beira is a colonial legacy. It used to link the Colombo port with several canals in the city providing an effective transportation medium in the good old days. The development of a road network gradually eased the boat traffic on the Beira. Today, the only boats which use it are those of the Rowing Club.
The Beira has become an outlet for all kinds of wastes- household , industrial, organic, chemical. What we find as a lake today is a thick mass of algae infested liquid- which cannot be called water- with rotting garbage floating on it.
The need to clean up the lake has been obvious for several years and it is heartening to hear that there is a project going on, which aims to do just this. But when could we expect to see a cleaned up lake?
"Not for a very long time," said Project Manager, Lionel Dissanayake of the UDA. The Beira Lake Rehabilitation project is still at its initial stages and it first aims at eliminating the waste water sources that pollute the Beira.
"Only then could we start dredging and filtering algae in the Beira itself," Dissanayake said.
The project is funded by the World Bank which has initiated a project to clean up Colombo. Begun in 1992 with the feasibility studies which were completed in 1993, negotiations for funding the detailed designs went on until 1995 May. Work on the detailed designs are now in progress.
"The next step would be the rehabilitation of the sewer and drainage system that leads to the Beira," Dissanayake said.
By the end of this year the work on the storm water system is expected to commence. But a clean lake will yet be a dream for Colombo residents.
The Vihara Maha Devi park which is the only park area within Colombo city, was also a leftover from the British era, which has undergone some change in recent years. The park is in a state of disrepair. Its only attraction - the large trees that still survive there and the children's park.
According to Anura Ranaweera, who is in charge of Park Maintenance the main cause for the park's run-down state is vandalism. "Whenever there is a repair needed we attend to it with the funds in hand. But when continuous repairs are called for it is rather difficult to do it within our budget," he said.
Today the park is mainly patronised by young couples seeking privacy and beggars and other social misfits during the night.
"Even the children's play areas have been reduced because of the couples," Ranaweera said. He said that a nominal fee should be charged for entry as a means of keeping out the vandals and petty criminals who use the park as a sleeping place.
He said that the Colombo Municipal Council which oversees the area, is planning on a gradual rehabilitation project, which would repair the lawns, fountains, pond and children's park.
"The plan is to do a lot of landscaping and introduce new flower varieties to the relatively colourless park." No outside funding was sought since the plan is to do gradual rehabilitation work over an year or so. But Ranaweera said that there is a certain amount of NGO sector participation in the project and more private sector participation would be encouraged.
The Dehiwela Zoo was once the pride of the country. But in recent years it suffered due to neglect and mismanagement. Today, though its condition is very much improved. A gradual rehabilitation project under the new director and special consultant to the zoo, Lyn de Alwis has already begun to show results. The zoo environs look much cleaner and greener now- they also smell better.
Visitors would be surprised to see large exotic storks walking casually around the pathways and monkeys, antelopes and impalas in open enclosures instead of the black iron barred cages.
The new concept is to create animal enclosures that look very much like their natural habitat. "We want the animals to be happy, so that the people enjoy watching them," Lyn de Alwis said.
Of course, all is not perfect at the zoo. There are still hiccups that have to be corrected to bring the zoo back to its former glory. But most regular visitors would be quite happy with the present progress.
The zoo apart, it is ironic that we have actually gone backwards with time where our city "greens" are concerned. Those areas which were famous in the days of the British are now in shambles and need major rehabilitation projects to rejuvenate them. No amount of money spent will provide effective long term results if people do not learn to care for and protect these places. It is tragic that the authorities who are responsible to taxpayers in the city to maintain the green areas have fallen terribly behind in their work. All talk of large complicated projects are well and good- but what the city really needs to see are results . And fast.
Continue to Plus page 3 - Strokes of hope * Yet another side of Leonard Woolf
Return to the Plus contents page
Please send your comments and suggestions on this web site to
info@suntimes.is.lk or to
webmaster@infolabs.is.lk