THRU gears for environmentally sustainable housing
Professionals engaged in the Tsunami Housing Construction Program
face challenges concerning housing. It is due to the populations
determined by the number of houses at each location demanding services
that could sustain the new settlements in the long term.
In spite of all these, the impacts on environment arising out of
houses and housing in the new settlements, are hardly spoken about, a
statement issued by the Tsunami Housing Reconstructions Unit (THRU)
Environment and Project Planning Division said.
It is true that the priority in the agenda is moving the affected
families into permanent houses as soon as possible.
Similar experiences in the world over show that people always reacted
to quality of environment in the new settlements, after settling in the
new houses.
It has to be understood because the agony of living in temporary or
transit shelter is felt by the displaced people and not by the planners,
designers and contractors.
However, it would be a lost opportunity if the available expertise is
not put into use for parallel programming. It is better late than never.
All donors are unanimous that environment concerns are addressed
simultaneously with houses and housing, the release said.
Environment concerns of tsunami housing projects are addressed under
three stages.
Planning teams of the Urban Development Authority (UDA) operating at
district level, evaluate the suitability of available sites for housing
with the help of a planning checklist and this checklist includes
criteria for screening the sites for environment concerns.
Locations are checked for accessibility to environment infrastructure
services and also from avoiding, flood plains, marshes or low-lying
land, steep slopes, archaeological, forest and wildlife reserves, the
release added.
Upon establishment of suitability, the donors are given the green
light to develop the designs for the new settlements and they are
required to obtain planning clearance from the UDA for the layout and
the building design. During this stage the donors are also advised to
discuss with the NWS & DB, the proposals for water supply and waste
water disposal.
Although it is often cited as a red tape, compliance with the
National Environment Law is prime requirement at this stage. The
environment law requires that all development projects that exceed the
prescribed limits in scope or located within or close to listed
sensitive sites should be screened for environment impacts in order to
mitigate negative impacts.
Environment impact studies are time consuming. Screening over
300-sites spread across 12-districts is another problem. This is where
THRU has stepped in.
A facilitation approach has been decided through preparation of
environment profiles of all sites. Universities in the coastal regions
have agreed to undertake the assignment on regional basis. This 30-day
program will result in a comprehensive data base of environment profiles
of all housing sites.
The Central Environment Authority (CEA), which is responsible for
ensuring compliance with environment laws, will then decide on the need
for extending the program for further environment impact (EI) studies.
All major donors have expressed willingness to undertake EI Studies if
their projects are found to be falling into that category, statement
said. |