Urbanisation: A case for a mega metropolis

By Sarath de Alwis

A few weeks ago I moved from an apartment in Colombo to comfortable quarters in the basement of my daughter’s house at Battaramulla. The positives of the move are plenty.

I can walk on paved sidewalks breathing fresh air. I am mollycoddled by the breeze that comes across the large expanse of water that surrounds the great “speak tank” of our nation. I can also see the mini “think tanks” of our nation discussing friendly business. They are seen seated on the many park benches engaged in serious discussions on the issue ‘How to live on love and fresh air’. Holding hands and delightedly giggling, they seem to find that fresh air and love are indeed in sustainable supply.

I pass a tastefully created hoarding that advises that there is plenty of ‘jolly with no poli’. It is a local claim with a global appeal. Once back at home I can again see the vast expanse of water at a distance.

It was an abandoned marsh when I first saw it in 1974. They were the days when Professor Carlo walked on burning embers and comrade Vasudeva wept for Salvador Allende and his tears wet the Hansard. Now Battaramulla is home to Cool Planets and cool plazas. Mango is available on mannequins and in the market.

Quest for cream buns

The cream on top of the cake for me is the company of my 10-year-old granddaughter Anjali. Her worldly wisdom is limitless. Nothing that I tell her can get past without the gentle refrain “oyata pissu” (you are mad) uttered with a mature disdain.

These luxuries do not come free. Anjali likes cream buns. I get them for her from a bakery at Nugegoda with a very British name. Sometimes I get other stuff for her, if only to provoke her innocent refrain, “Thank you. Oyata pissu.”

It was in this serenely ‘pissu’ frame that I set out for the evening walk one day, last week. It was a day when I had to get cream buns for Anjali. On reaching Etul Kotte junction I decided to take a bus that conveniently connects Battaramulla with Dehiwala – the two satellite municipalities of Mega Colombo.

The bus route is through Nugegoda. In my opinion Nugegoda has the best mall in greater Colombo that includes Colombo and the three Municipalities of Dehiwala, Kotte and Kaduwela. I waited for a bus on the route 163.

The route has a good supply of buses and relatively better bus conductors. They all run out of one and two rupee coins and somehow manage to have the largest collection of torn and dirty Rs. 10 notes. Yet they do not linger at halts and both drivers and conductors are civil if not polite.

They bring the bus to a stop instead of dragging it while the conductor screams get off: “bahinna, bahinna”. While boarding the bus that arrived before long, it dawned on me that if the route has an acceptable saturation of buses, both the frequency and service is better.

Crossing four municipalities

It occurs to me that I will be crossing four municipalities this evening. I start from Kaduwela MC, cross Kotte MC, skirt Dehiwala-Mount Lavinia and briefly pass though the century old Colombo Municipal Council, all in the process of a walk recommended by the cardiologist (after bypass surgery).

My immediate errand is to fetch cream buns for Anjali. With some annoyance I realise that the road leading to Subuthipura where I now live was recently carpeted. On my way today I counted three gaping holes that stared at me in insolent pride and in stark relief on the carpeted surface. No. I am not suggesting faulty constructions.

When residents want to reinstall their water supply, either the Board of Water Supply and Drainage or the resident must be held responsible to restore the damage of intrusion. The neglect to date is more than six months. A remedy is not in sight.

It then occurs to me that if the Road Development Authority or the Urban Development Authority set up a separate organisation to develop and maintain roads and drainage works of all four municipalities, it will be a cost effective organisation that will be both efficient due to its limited mandate and the economy of scale.

Kollonnawa Urban Council is a straggler. It seems the lumpen proletariat is limped therein. Is it Darwinian natural selection? But that is not possible. It cannot be run by a committee of mayors. I then begin to comprehend the reasons for the lopsided development of mega city in the Western Province emerging not because but despite four mayors all replete with robes, chains and other paraphernalia that adorn their offices.

I get off at the Nugegoda-Nawala Road junction and walk towards High Level Road. At dusk the Nugegoda Mall comes alive with the best collection of contented people who do not display anxious hurry. They do not carry the burdens of the new consumer class that you see in other places of Metropolitan Colombo.

Stanley Tillekeratne Mawatha is one of the earliest city development projects of greater Colombo and the only urban legacy left by the ’70-’77 Government. Given the context it was conceived in, it has remarkably met the demands of the future that its planners envisaged.

Urbanisation and development

Urbanisation throughout history has marked the development of a society. The Mckinsey Global institute has just published an update of its 2011 report ‘Urban World: Mapping the economic power of the world’. It begins with a definite conclusion: “Urbanisation of the world continues apace and is one bright spot in an otherwise challenging global environment.”

I suppose the challenges it speaks of concerns the urban centres of New York, London, Frankfurt and Tokyo. They are the Cities of the past. Greater Colombo I hope will be a city of the future. That is of little worry to me now.

I am on an errand to buy cream buns from an outfit that has steadily kept pace with the urbanisation process. It tells us something else. Urbanisation implicitly represents the burgeoning of a consumer class and new demands. The growing city attracts new service providers and new creators of wealth.

The McKinsey study tells me that greater Colombo has the potential to be a mega city proportionate to our demography. The global mega cities are supposedly those urban concentrations of more than 10 million inhabitants. It is mercy that we can work towards acquiring some of the advantages of modernisation without the burden of such a large population.

“Until 1500, Asia was the centre of gravity of the world economy, accounting to roughly two thirds of the global GDP. But in the 18th and 19th centuries, urbanisation and industrialisation vaulted Europe and the United States to prominence. We are now observing a decisive shift in the balance back toward Asia,” says the McKinsey report.

I wonder why the Nugegoda Mall has so many shops that sell shoes. What is more significant is that the incomes of this consumer class are on a trajectory that outstrips the “individual in the consuming classes”. McKinsey institute declares correctly and clearly that “products and services are hitting takeoff points at which consumption rises steeply and swiftly”. I see the truth of it in the shop windows and the people in and out of them.

A request for bread

A person from behind tells me “mata paan bagayak aran denna” (get me half a loaf of bread). I ignore him and start walking briskly. I stop at a shop window to look at some walking shoes. I need to replace what I wear. They are all in colours that need constant care. I need something that takes care of itself.

I am again intercepted by the same voice. This time it is not a plea. It is a gruff statement. “uhulanta bary nisai mama iluwe” (I asked because I cannot bear).

He did not mention the words bread and hunger. If his intention was to shame me, he pretty well succeeded. I felt guilty. I was also angry. He had rudely interrupted my thoughts on global trends and a world that awaits my granddaughter. I turned and said ‘enawa passen’ (follow me) and I continued walking. I did not look back.

My mind was again on the potholes on the carpeted road leading to Subuthipura and the process of urbanisation. I think of what this focused study of urbanisation describes as the complexities and challenges faced by growing cities.

To avoid constraints, the growing cities the report says should, “through smart regulation provide an environment that encourages entrepreneurialism and business investment”. Cities, the report stresses, “need to avoid constraints on growth”.

They need to be able to plan the urban environment for sufficient housing, effective transportation, and capital spending on electricity, water and telecommunications. Cities that do not plan for these will fail to meet the aspirations of those who seek opportunities in them “face the risks of congestion, pollution and insufficient public services” which is a barrier to growth.

I think of the Kaduwela Municipal Council. To me it is a strange phenomenon. Urban housing has crept in to vast swathes of land that was both rural and agricultural until as late as 1977. The hamlet called Velivita in Kaduwela had neither electricity nor pipe water until around 1980. It now has both. It still lacks a good access road. No schools in the area have kept equal pace.

The children of the affluent as far as I know come to Colombo. I was reliably informed that the present Minister of Education Bandula Gunawardene is an alumnus of Battaramulla Maha Vidyalaya. Most children I know of residing in Battaramulla attend schools in Colombo. Kollonnawa Urban Council is a straggler. It seems the lumpen proletariat is limped there in. Is it Darwinian natural selection?

“Pissu” connection

While buying my cream buns I bought a loaf of bread. The place in keeping with modernity has a takeaway counter. I got a portion of dhal that was given in a polythene bag. Familiar with the surroundings, I knew that there was a shop nearby that stocked a vast array of plastic utensils.

I bought a red plastic bowl which was less than half the cost of the loaf of bread. I was not sure that the man had followed me. I retraced my steps. There he was seated on the steps of a closed shop almost below the main arch of the Nugegoda flyover.

When I gave him the bread and the dhal he took it simply. Not a word. When I gave him the bowl he said, “Aiyo. Hariyata mahaththya salli viyadam karala” (you have spent a lot of money). He then said, “Mahaththyage pissu wedak”. I was elated. I am now familiar with the word “pissu” and my connection with it.

I thought no more of the inexorable force of urbanisation. I thought of the brave new world Anjali will inherit if our planners too dreamt of that future. I subscribe to the belief that we should have one central authority to plan, develop and administer a Greater Colombo Metropolitan Area in place of the four mayors and one chairman of an Urban Council.

Urbanisation is a serious facet of our development process. I did not discuss it with Anjali for fear of being told “oyata pissu”.

(The writer is a retired airline executive. He can be reached via email [email protected].)