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| Environment
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Haphazard Urbanization in the Colombo
Metropolitan Region, particularly urban sprawl around the City of Colombo and
ribbon development along transport arteries, taken place with little or no care
for the region's natural ecological structure. This About 20% of CMR being flood
plains, the most crucial urban environmental issue is that of storm water management.
Other major issues are micro level drainage problems, poor or non-existent solid
waste management and hazardous waste disposal arrangements, growing industrial
pollution, coastal erosion and other forms of coastal degradation (including beach
encroachment, mangrove destruction and visual degradation), threats to wetlands
from garbage dumping besides reclamation, and excessive as well as careless sand
and clay mining. Problems of
increasing concern are encroachment of river and canal reservations, conversion
of high quality agricultural lands for urban uses, poor physical/ urban planning
causing congestion and chaos, unhygienic squatter settlements, inadequate sewerage,
salt water intrusion in the coastal belt, stretches/pockets of severe vehicular
air pollution, continued destruction of remaining lowland rain forest, indiscriminate
rock quarrying and related activities, under-use of the region's mineral potential
(especially ground water), and landslide prone areas in the Kalutara District.
The proposed environmental strategy for the CMR has addressed all the above environmental
problems in relation to the natural resource base of the CMR with the aim of increasing
the quality of the environment and the living conditions of the inhabitants, through
sustainable development within the region.
| Transport
Network | |
Incompatible land use and ribbon
development along the principal trunk roads in the region has led to traffic congestion
and delays in passenger travel. As a result the cost component of transport in
the production of goods and services, is rapidly escalating within the region.
The `combined land use - transport strategy' adopted in the CMRSP aims to provide
more space for efficient modes of transport and action programmes to derive optimum
benefits from urban development in the region.
| Infrastructure
Network | |
As far as infrastructure facilities
in the CMR are concerned, 71% of housing units are not provided with pipe borne
water, 24.5% of housing units are not provided with electricity supply, 48% of
the demand of telecommunication has not been supplied and 81% of the population
do not have a piped sewerage system. To rectify the above shortcomings and fulfill
the future demands, proposals are made in the infrastructure strategy. Concentration
of infrastructure facilities to designated Growth Centres will increase their
efficiency while reducing the per capita cost.
| Economy
& Employment | |
Measured in terms of Gross Domestic
Product (GDP), CMR contributes about 44.1% to the national economy. The non-agricultural
sector accounts for 77 % of the CMR's contribution to GDP. These indicators demonstrate
the importance of the CMR in the national context. Despite having a strong economic
base, CMR also has relatively high rate of unemployment of around 15.6% compared
with the national average of 14.7%. The proposals considered in the Structure
Plan are aimed at attracting investment by both local and foreign investors. The
state sector is expected to provide the bulk of the infrastructure in the region
within the planning framework of the structure plan. These proposals should help
to further strengthen the regional economy and reduce unemployment.
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