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Colombo shanty population only 10 percent

by Ranga Jayasuriya

Contradicting the previous estimate of the Urban Development Authority (UDA) and former Minister Mangala Samaraweera that half of the Colombo population are shanty dwellers, Colombo Mayor Omar Kamil said yesterday that only 10% of the city population were living in shanties.

Pointing to the results of a survey conducted by the Colombo Municipal Council and the Sevanatha Urban Resource Centre, the Mayor said of the total 1614 urban settlements of the low income earners in the city only 10% live without an ownership of the house and basic sanitary facilities.

The research - which based on 20 indicators of human development- has categorised the settlements of the low income earners into four categories, i.e least developed settlements, under developed settlements, developed settlements and well developed settlements.

"According to the survey, the majority of the low income earning population live in the developed settlements. But these places have to be further developed with street lighting, roads and drainage systems," the Mayor said.

Asked whether Minister Samaraweera was misguided by the researchers of the previous survey,the Mayor said 'its facts were correct, but the definition was wrong'.

"The low income level people in the city live in the settlements of different levels as the present study has identified. But the previous survey had categorised all of them as shanty dwellers which was fundamentally incorrect," he said.

The Mayor raised doubt on the rationale of the UDA concept of flats for shanty dwellers.

"A house is not every thing, what is more important is a livelihood. When a family who had a shop attached to the house is taken to the 10th floor of a flat, they will virtually lose their livelihood," he said. What is important is widening income generation opportunities for them, he said. He however accepted that the UDA concept would be 'good for people who have no common amenities'. 

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