(UTV | COLOMBO) – An investigation has revealed that 214 residents of Kajeemawatta in Modara, Madampitiya recently affected by a major fire does not have even the minimum qualifications required to obtain a permanent house.
This has been emphasized in a Urban Development Authority report given to the Urban Development and Housing Ministry Secretary regarding the fire at Kajeemawatta.
The report further states that it is not possible to provide houses to them according to the approved standards under the Urban Revitalization programme.
The Kajeemawatta houses that caught fire, belongs to the National Housing Development Authority and spans five acres. Kajeemawatta was handed over to the Urban Development Authority on a temporary basis to run a temporary intermediate camp under the initial urban revitalisation project in 2011 until permanent houses were provided to the families residing on the land.
When the Urban Development Authority released land for the construction of apartment complexes, displaced families were temporarily settled in Kajeemawatta. The number of settled families was 275.
After that, on several occasions, about 50 family units were settled in this intermediate camp and after 2014, about 291 unauthorized families were settled in this land due to political intervention.
Also, it is stated in the report that after the 2015 Presidential election, people from different areas have been settled here illegally on several occasions due to political interference. But the urban revitalization project implemented that year has cleared all the squatters from Kajeemawatta and freed the land completely.
But since January 2016, illegal residents have been resettled in Kajeemawatta and that number is 291.
It is further stated in the report sent by the Urban Development Authority to the Secretary of the Ministry that according to the instructions of the Megapolis and Western Development Ministry which belonged to the Urban Development Authority at that time, the approval of the Management Board to provide houses for 57 housing units that met the minimum qualifications was received in 2019.
Accordingly, about 20 housing units are to be provided to the remaining residents who meet the minimum qualifications. The report further states that since the remaining residents do not meet the minimum qualifications, it is not possible to provide them with houses according to the approved criteria under the Urban Revitalisation Project.