Drifting poor

Friday, 19 February 2016 00:00 - - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}

Development and beautification are loaded words because they have the capacity to do both good and bad for a community. The recent eviction of people from the underserved settlement in Thotalanga and the subsequent protests serve to underscore the importance of ensuring development is sustainable, especially when dealing with the poor.

The standoff between the families and Government officials is easily explained. The owners of houses in the shanty area were given new houses by the Government but as many as 35 families on rent had nowhere to go when the bulldozes arrived. Interestingly, many of these families relocated to Thotalanga after being displaced when other underserved settlements that were removed under the previous Government.

Urban Development and Megapolis Minister Champika Ranawaka has gone on record insisting the Government is in the clear. He has vehemently stood by the Government policy to give a new house only to house owners, pointing out the Government is not responsible for the families renting out the properties. But the problem is not so easily solved. Often the people who are unceremoniously evicted are the poorest of the poor and they do not have the resources to find new shelter.

If they continue to fall between the cracks repeatedly, as seems to be the case, then they will be pushed further and further away from the city centres. This will also impact their chances of earning a livelihood, sending their children to school and having access to basic social infrastructure such as good healthcare. This could eventually lead to a huge loss for inclusive development and an increase in the vulnerable population of Colombo.

Already the poorest people in Colombo occupy only 10% of its land. How fair is it to condense that space even further? The danger of Thotalanga repeating itself is high because the Government has already rolled out an ambitious Megapolis plan that envisions rapid gentrification of Colombo’s spaces. One of its results will be massive increase of land value within Colombo, which is positive for business but also serves to crowd out people of middle or low income groups.

Real estate prices of apartments in Colombo are already beyond the means of average people and if spaces are not created within the city for people of different income groups to co-exist then the result would be a forced form of development that will disenfranchise a large part of the public who currently call Colombo home. Inevitably many of these will be poor or middle class people living on rent.

There are also practical results of this. Much of the labour force is found in thousands of slums or underserved settlements sprinkled around the capital. If these people are pushed out then the cost of labour will increase exponentially over a short period of time, and create lopsided growth that will not reach those that most need it. A World Bank report launched this week calculates as much as 40% of Sri Lanka’s population live on less than Rs. 225 a day and is clustered around key urban areas. Economic growth must reach these people for it to qualify as development.

Developing the main and secondary cities is essential to Sri Lanka’s growth but it has to be done with far more data, planning and transparency to really bring home inclusive growth.