Colombo beautification must go beyond pleasing sights

President Ranil Wickremesinghe disclosed last week that plans are underway to transform Colombo into an aesthetically pleasing city with plans drawn up by the Singapore headquartered Surbana Jurong Group, a global urban infrastructure consulting firm.

Similar plans have been prepared for Trincomalee as well as for the Batticaloa and Arugam Bay areas, the President said when he addressed an international conference on architecture organised by the Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA) Chapter in Sri Lanka, in collaboration with the American Institute of Architects (AIA).

The news comes in the wake of a recent Government announcement that some of the landmark buildings in the city of Colombo including the President’s House and Secretariat and the Prime Minister’s official residence – Temple Trees are to be opened to the public while these offices would be relocated to Sri Jayewardenepura, Kotte.

Under a proposed ‘New Colombo Heritage City Plan’, several other buildings are to be offered for lease to investors and these include the General Post Office (GPO), Republic Building (currently the Foreign Ministry), Shrvasthi (former MP’s hostel), the Gafoor building, the Irrigation Department building at Jawatte Road, the Welikada Prisons, and the old Defence Ministry building at Galle Face.

This is a welcome plan given that the maintenance of buildings built during colonial times is expensive and they make for better tourist attractions than as working spaces. These buildings would also be better preserved if they are kept open to the public.

Successive governments have had grandiose plans to develop Colombo, but most have not addressed the most basic changes that must be made if the city is to become a people-friendly metropolis, both for its nearly one million residents as well as thousands of others who commute daily to the city for work, studies and other necessities.

Colombo, which is the commercial capital, has seen the rapid increase in high-rise structures, both commercial and residential, but infrastructure including walkways, parks, public toilets, and recreational facilities are sorely inadequate while traffic management too is poor. The areas considered the heart of Colombo, Fort and Pettah are far from hospitable places for a night visit with poorly lit roads, potholes and generally a feel of a decaying city than one that is modern and welcoming.

With the pace of urbanisation in Sri Lanka on the rise and more Lankans relocating from rural to urban areas seeking better lives, it is testing the already overburdened infrastructure in Colombo and the suburbs.

Colombo is the home of the biggest schools in the country with a student population in public schools alone close to 150,000. There are also numerous international schools and educational institutes and a State university which bring in thousands to the city daily. While many Government offices have shifted to the suburbs, there are a sizable number of offices that remain in Colombo. Though thousands move in and out of the city on a daily basis, Colombo city lacks many basic facilities.

Hence any plans to make the city of Colombo beautiful will have to go hand in hand in making it a place where residents and visitors can have easy access to basic facilities that are available in modern cities. These include better public transportation and walkways which are safe. Facilities for differently abled persons are almost non-existent in Colombo and the present footpaths are full of holes that even a fully able-bodied person can get injured walking along them. Any new development plan for Colombo must include facilities for persons with disabilities such as accessibility to buildings, accessible pedestrian signals for visually impaired persons, etc. Beautification must go beyond pleasing sights and address the other public necessities if Colombo is to transform into a modern city.