• Child’s death raises fresh questions over safety in Colombo’s housing schemes
• All 24 UDA housing schemes in C’bo deemed at risk
• 45 ageing Govt. housing projects and nearly 10,000 units under review
• Residents report sewage overflows, structural cracks, lift failures, fire safety gaps
• Authorities launch investigations as P’ment prepares to review housing standards in March

Seven-year-old M. Sandaruwan had gone to the Helamuthu Sevana high-rise housing complex in Modara on the morning of 4 February, accompanied by his grandmother. The child, who lived with his family at the nearby Ranmuthu Uyana housing complex, was standing near a shop at the foot of the building when a section of cement plaster from the seventh floor suddenly broke away and fell.

Police said the incident occurred at around 8.30 a.m., when part of the outer wall between two housing units collapsed. A fragment of the falling plaster reportedly struck the child on the head, causing severe injuries. He was rushed to the hospital for treatment, but later died.

Sandaruwan’s death has once again drawn attention to long-standing safety concerns surrounding high-rise housing complexes developed under State-led urban housing schemes. Located within Sri Lanka’s commercial capital, these projects were designed to provide modern housing for low-income communities relocated from underserved settlements. 

However, residents and observers have increasingly questioned whether adequate attention has been paid to long-term maintenance, safety standards, and the overall well-being of those living in such developments.

Urban Regeneration Programme

High-rise housing complexes such as Randiya Uyana, which is situated next to Helamuthu Sevana, were built under the Urban Regeneration Programme (URP) of the Urban Development Authority (UDA), an initiative aimed at relocating families living in informal settlements across Colombo into apartment-style housing.

Under the programme, each housing unit was designed to cover approximately 550 square feet, consisting of a living room, pantry, two bedrooms, a washroom, and a balcony, with an estimated average construction cost of Rs. 6.5 million per unit. 

Project documents state that basic infrastructure – including drinking water, three-phase electricity, solid waste disposal systems, sewerage and drainage connections, landscaped common areas, and internal roads – would be provided within each housing scheme.

According to UDA surveys conducted in 2010, more than half of Colombo’s population was living in shanties, slums, or ageing housing schemes occupying around 9% of the city’s land area. The survey identified 68,812 families living across 1,499 underserved settlements that lacked adequate access to essential infrastructure such as clean water, electricity, and sanitation. 

The URP was introduced as a response, with plans to construct 50,000 housing units to relocate these families into what were described as modern, safer living spaces.

The stated vision of the project was to eliminate shanties and dilapidated housing from Colombo by relocating residents to new apartments while freeing up land for commercial and mixed-use development. 

Ten housing complexes were completed under the first phase between 2013 and 2014, including Randiya Uyana in Henamulla, Modara, which comprises 1,137 housing units. The nearby Helamuthu Sevana complex, where Sandaruwan was injured, contains 1,076 housing units and was constructed between 2014 and 2019.

While official project reports present these housing schemes as model urban regeneration initiatives, residents and community advocates say the on-ground reality raises difficult questions about safety, upkeep, and accountability – questions that have resurfaced with renewed urgency following the child’s death.

The housing complexes

Following Sandaruwan’s death, The Sunday Morning visited the Randiya Uyana housing complex, where residents described living conditions that they said had deteriorated due to long-standing maintenance and sanitary problems.

Residents pointed to several urgent concerns that they claimed had remained unresolved despite repeated complaints. The most serious issue highlighted was the frequent overflow of the sewage and drainage system. According to residents, wastewater often spills into common areas, creating unhygienic conditions and an overpowering stench that affects daily life.

Another major concern is the potential contamination of drinking water. Residents said that sewage drains were located in close proximity to water storage tanks used by the complex, raising fears of waterborne illnesses and broader public health risks. Poor drainage and stagnant wastewater had also increased the threat of dengue, they added, warning that the problem extended beyond the housing complex and posed risks to nearby communities as well.

Unsafe conditions of elevators were also observed during the visit. Residents further said there were no visible fire safety mechanisms and alleged that no fire drills or awareness programmes had been conducted.

Residents who spoke to The Sunday Morning alleged administrative neglect, saying that concerns about unsafe conditions had been raised with the UDA long before Sandaruwan’s death. However, they claimed that little action had been taken and that their appeals had largely gone unanswered.

Doris Manel, a resident of Block A who has lived in the complex with her family for the past 11 years, said they had faced numerous unresolved issues. According to her, when the flats were initially handed over, residents were given strict regulations, including restrictions on loud noise and keeping pets. However, she alleged that many of those rules were now openly violated without intervention from authorities.

She also claimed that drug use within the complex had become a growing concern, alleging that even young girls had fallen victim to narcotic pills. In addition, she alleged that some residents unlawfully drew electricity from neighbouring units when their own supply was disconnected due to unpaid bills. 

“Complaints are made to the relevant authorities about so many incidents, but they are never addressed,” she charged.

Manel further identified several safety hazards within the premises, noting that residents had never received emergency preparedness or fire safety training. She alleged that fire extinguishers were damaged, while cables had been stolen or left broken. 

“Complaints have been made about these issues, but they always go unanswered,” she said. Garbage disposal, she added, was also poorly managed, with some residents allegedly throwing waste directly from upper floors.

She said residents had formed an internal committee and collected Rs. 20 from each household for minor maintenance and improvement work, although not all households had contributed.

According to Manel, residents have repeatedly informed the UDA about structural concerns, including cracks in walls and ceiling debris falling inside some units. “Despite repeated complaints, the UDA has not taken any action so far. They never do,” she said, warning that falling debris could cause serious head injuries.

Udenika Silva, a resident of Block B, raised similar concerns when speaking to The Sunday Morning. During the visit, large cracks were observed across several walls inside her apartment.

“I live here with my son and granddaughter. My daughter-in-law is abroad, and I look after the child. We moved here in 2014 after paying Rs. 50,000 as an initial payment,” she said. Silva explained that her unit was on the 11th floor and that she had requested a ground-floor unit due to her husband’s medical condition at the time, but the request had not been granted. Her husband has since passed away.

“Now the walls are cracked and the ceiling has started peeling off. I wrote to the UDA several times but did not receive any response. Because no one came, I filled some of the cracks myself using cement,” she said. 

She also raised concerns about the alleged drug menace within the housing complex.

A handwritten notice displayed near Block D warned residents about the risk of falling concrete from upper floors and advised people not to remain in the area for long periods.

Unsafe housing schemes

The issues surrounding Colombo’s high-rise housing complexes were also discussed at the parliamentary Sectoral Oversight Committee on Infrastructure and Strategic Development last October. During the meeting, officials of the National Housing Development Authority (NHDA) stated that plans were underway to redevelop Government-owned housing complexes in the Colombo District that were over 40 years old.

According to officials, there are 45 such ageing housing projects in Colombo, comprising approximately 10,000 housing units. The committee, chaired by MP S.M. Marikkar, instructed officials to submit a comprehensive report outlining redevelopment plans, implementation mechanisms, and decisions relating to current residents. 

Officials said technical assessments and engineering evaluations would be carried out to determine the structural condition of the buildings before redevelopment began. They added that the projects were expected to be implemented under a public-private partnership model.

The committee was also informed that around 45,000 housing units initiated between 2015 and 2019 remained incomplete due to various reasons. Authorities said a plan had been prepared to complete these projects within the next three years. 

Discussions further focused on the need to attract greater investment into condominium and housing development projects, with officials highlighting regulatory bottlenecks. The committee instructed the Ministry of Urban Development, Construction, and Housing to propose a legally workable mechanism to improve inter-ministerial coordination and accelerate approvals for housing projects.

When contacted by The Sunday Morning, MP Marikkar said that the requested report had been received and would be taken up for discussion in March.

Commenting on the condition of urban housing complexes in Colombo, he raised several concerns regarding their management and living standards.

He said that many high-rise housing schemes were suffering from poor maintenance and inadequate basic facilities, noting that cleaning and routine upkeep were not being carried out properly. While some housing projects implemented by the NHDA did not face similar issues, he claimed that serious problems persisted in a number of complexes managed by the UDA.

Marikkar also criticised what he described as the commercialisation of housing management, alleging that the system had turned into a profit-driven structure that failed to provide essential services to residents. He added that these schemes had originally been intended to offer families a dignified new life, including privacy and improved environments for children, but that many of those promises remained unfulfilled.

Emphasising the history of relocation, he noted that many families had not moved voluntarily but had been relocated from lands where their families had lived for generations, and therefore deserved to be treated with dignity and respect. He stressed that the long-term goal of housing policy should be to ensure better living conditions and opportunities for future generations.

On security concerns, including drug use, Marikkar called for a structured security strategy instead of occasional Police raids, proposing a combined approach focused on rehabilitation for those already affected and stronger preventative measures to stop drugs from entering housing complexes.

He added that a formal report assessing the standards and conditions of these housing schemes was expected to be taken up for discussion by the committee in early March.

Responses of authorities

Speaking to The Sunday Morning, Colombo Mayor Vraîe Cally Balthazaar said that the Colombo Municipal Council (CMC) was prepared to support the UDA where required. However, she clarified that overall structural maintenance and management of the housing schemes fell under the UDA. 

“The CMC’s responsibility is overseeing solid waste management, while overall administration falls under the purview of the UDA,” she said.

Deputy Minister of Urban Development Eranga Gunasekara described the existing housing units as “cages,” saying the State had a responsibility to ensure they did not remain “hell” for residents. He said the recent tragedy had exposed long-standing failures in the design, construction, and management of several housing projects.

Gunasekara said that a high-level investigation committee had been appointed to examine the circumstances surrounding Sandaruwan’s death and identify construction and maintenance failures, with a preliminary report expected within one-and-a-half weeks. Three senior UDA Directors have also been assigned to oversee all 24 UDA housing schemes and conduct on-site assessments to identify high-risk areas requiring urgent intervention.

He added that immediate attention would be given to lift safety, fire protection systems, and structural defects, noting that some buildings completed as recently as 2019 were already showing signs of serious deterioration.

Gunasekara said that the Government had restarted several previously abandoned housing projects and was working on a structured plan to provide quality housing for eligible residents. According to him, a 2010 survey had identified a need for around 60,000 urban housing units in Colombo, but only about 14,000 had been constructed so far. 

He acknowledged that many existing units were not suitable for dignified human habitation and said that the Government had undertaken a comprehensive review to transform them into safer and healthier environments.

The Deputy Minister added that studies were underway across all 24 existing housing complexes to address what he described as distressing living conditions, while plans were also in place to restructure the UDA. The Government, he said, intended to allocate Rs. 500 billion this year towards an urban housing modernisation programme.

UDA Director General Ruchira Withana told The Sunday Morning that technical investigations into possible construction failures and structural damage had already commenced using specialised equipment and expert teams. He said that the UDA’s immediate focus was to prevent a recurrence of similar incidents.

Withana added that Rs. 300 million had been allocated to address long-neglected safety and maintenance issues across housing schemes, while an additional Rs. 93 million would be used to repair structural cracks and related damage.

As part of immediate measures, the UDA has begun modifying physical layouts to improve security by restricting unnecessary access routes and addressing areas known for illegal activity. The Director General said that new downpipe systems had already been installed following reports that infrastructure had been damaged to conceal illicit materials from law enforcement.

Acknowledging that current housing units averaging about 450 square feet were inadequate, Withana said that future housing projects would target a minimum size of 560 square feet. He noted that forcing families to sleep, cook, and live within confined spaces created severe social strain.

Looking ahead, he stated that the UDA planned to adopt a community-oriented urban housing model inspired by Malaysia, focusing on shared spaces, recreation, and dignified living. The goal, he said, was to upgrade these housing schemes to a condo-level standard while addressing social vulnerabilities, including the lack of safe recreational spaces that contributed to drug-related issues.