by Shamindra Ferdinando
National Freedom Front leader and Housing Minister, Wimal Weerawana is on a collision course with tenants of housing projects established by the government in the city and its suburbs over a controversial declaration that public funds wouldn’t be spent to maintain housing schemes in the future.
Minister Weerawansa was addressing a public gathering at Serpentine housing scheme at Borella on Saturday (Dec 31). The government had to spend Rs. 25 mn to renovate the scheme, which was in a dilapidated state due to negligence on the part of the tenants, the minister said. From now on, tenants would be responsible for their housing units, the minister said.The Serpentine complex comprised 352 families.
An irate Colombo District MP accused those living at the Serpentine flats of failing to establish a mechanism to look after their units in keeping with an agreement between them and the Housing Ministry. The MP alleged that the situation at other housing schemes renovated with public funds, too, had been same, with an influential section of tenants undermining his efforts to set up units to manage housing schemes. He accused a section of tenants of sabotaging ongoing moves to work out a cohesive plan spearheaded by those living in schemes to upkeep the facilities.
Weerawansa reminded the crowd that previous governments hadn’t touched the Serpentine scheme for 45 years. President Mahinda Rajapaksa authorized MP Weerawansa’s initiative to renovate those housing schemes as part of the UPFA’s overall plan to beautify the city and its suburbs.
The government launched the Serpentine project on the basis of the tenants agreeing to set up a committee to run the scheme. Although a management committee had been a prerequisite for the government to commit public funds, those responsible failed to keep their promise, the MP alleged.
The minister reiterated the housing ministry’s right to remove unauthorized constructions within schemes. Pointing out that unauthorized structures still remained at the Serpentine scheme, the minister said that he wouldn’t succumb to pressure and the suspension of action targeting unauthorized structures could resume at any time.
MP Weerawansa acknowledged that public funds available to provide housing to those struggling to make ends meet had been spent on the Serpentine scheme. Although, the government had intervened to restore the scheme, it wasn’t the right decision as many lived even without basis facilities. The minister pointed out that there couldn’t be any basis for the assumption that the state was responsible for maintaining housing units at schemes as those living outside had no option but to carry out repairs to their houses.
http://www.island.lk/index.php?page_cat=article-details&page=article-details&code_title=42354
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