UDA increases floor area of houses for slum dwellers displaced from city
Wednesday, 9 July 2014 00:43
-
- {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}
Due to protests from the slum dwellers in Colombo and the nearby suburbs, the Urban Development Authority (UDA) has decided to increase the floor area of the housing units that are proposed to be built for them.
Accordingly, the floor area will be increased to 500 square feet from the earlier proposed area of 400 square feet, a spokesman of the Urban Development Authority said.
The dwellers protested the size of the houses and would-be settlers protested having to move away from their present housing due to this issue.
Considering their demands, the UDA has decided to increase the floor area and the houses will be built in the future with 500 square feet of floor area.
The authorities have also decided to increase the number of floors of each housing unit to 15.
The Government, in a measure to beautify the capital city and free commercially valuable land that has presently been occupied, has been relocating the slum dwellers into housing units built with modern facilities.
According to government sources, nearly 54% of the city’s population are slum dwellers and they take up nearly 1,000 acres of prime land in the city illegally, not only draining the resources of the city, but also causing a serious nuisance to citizens in addition to impeding development.
