The development plan
prepared for Colombo in 1985 has been mainly concerned with residential development.
It was largely influenced by the priority of the government to increase the housing
stock of the country to improve living standards of the people and also to reduce
the expansion of slums and shanties in the city.
A
major shortcoming of this emphasis on housing development was the inadequate co-ordination
of the need of urban land for other activities and uses such as commercial, business,
banking & finance, transportation and storage. In addition, the declaration
of the area north of Colombo as mixed and primary residential zone also limited
the expansion of the port related activities.
Although
housing development received priority, an appropriate criterion regarding building
densities, in accordance with urban development in different parts of the city,
was not developed. The outcome of this shortcoming was the expansion of predominantly
low density housing in the city, which in turn caused horizontal expansion of
urban development . The shortage of buildable land, in terns of the growing demand,
led to encroachment into marshy lands. During the last few, years a substantial
part of marshy lands including flood prone low lying areas have been converted
into building sites. As a result, the excess rain water is now blocking the storm
water drainage system in urban areas causing water and logging and flooding. As
the city expanded horizontally, the provision of services such as water, electricity
and telecommunication began to experience difficulties because the demand for
these services was growing much faster than their supply and also because the
users were scattered throughout the city.
As the demand
for land from non-residential uses increased with the expansion
of the economy in and around the Colombo City, lands in residential
zones became the target of the demand from other uses particularly
the commercial. Houses are being converted into offices, shops,
garages etc. creating complex planning problems such as traffic
congestion and pollution. This situation became aggravated due
to lack of buildable lands and because the government did not
entertain applications for land from non-residential uses due
to the non-availability of land for such purposes .(Map
10)
