“The people who are in need houses should provide their
fullest cooperation to the government as it is difficult to
provide housing facilities by the government itself.”
This was said by
the Minister of Housing & Construction, Mrs. Ferial Ashraff
by addressing 2006 World Habitat Day National Conference
held at Bandaranaike Memorial International Conference Hall
(BMICH) on 02nd October
2006.
The United
Nations has designated the first Monday in October every
year as World Habitat Day to reflect on the state of human
settlements and the basic right to adequate shelter for
all. It is also intended to remind the world of its
collective responsibility for the future of the human
habitat.
The theme for
this year’s World Habitat Day, on Monday 2nd
October 2006, is “Cities – Magnets of Hope”. Mrs.
Ferial Ashraff, who came to inaugurate the National Forum,
also opened the Habitat theme exhibition & the Art
exhibition.
By addressing the
conference, Minister Mrs. Ferial Ashraff said that “The
World Habitat day which is being held to provide housing
needs of the people with the active participation of them.
Therefore World Habitat Day implemented in every parts of
the country for a period of one week with the participation
of different communities.
Due to the
success of this programme the government hopes to appoint a
National Steering Committee to implement a Habitat programme
to be launched throughout the year. We should avoid
traditional believes and hopes when implementing these kind
of developing activities. We should be courageous in
finding solutions to solve housing problems with our own
participation and avoid the concept that government should
given everything we need.
The future
holders of the world are children and their active
participation is needed in housing development programmes.
They have expressed effective ideas through Habitat Day Art
and Essay competition. Effective results can be obtained
through their active participation. We should not make our
children who try to obtain rights without performing their
responsibilities.
Specially, we
should appreciate the services done by our late President
Mr. Ranasinghe Premadasa when constructing condominium
houses within urban areas. But several problems have due to
improper maintenance of these houses. The occupants of
these houses should contribute their cooperation when
repairing these houses. These activities are more effective
through awareness programme on children living in
condominium housing schemes.”
By addressing the
meeting Secretary to the Ministry of Housing & Construction
Mrs. Mallika Karunaratne said “World Habitat Day which was
organized centering around cities and urban surroundings and
the main target is to gain fullest assistance from the
school children for housing development activities. The
government hopes to implement habitat programmes based on
the experiences gained through the habitat week implemented
to mark Habitat Day.”
By addressing the
conference, the Proogramme Manager of UN Habitat Mr. Conred
de Tissera said “This year’s theme, chosen by the United
Nations, is to remind all of us that the world is witnessing
the greatest migration in its history of people into towns
and cities. In 1950, one-third of the world’s people lived
in cities. Just 50 years later, this rose to one-half and
will continue to grow to two-thirds, or 6 billion people, by
2050. Cities are now home to half of humankind.
It is very
difficult to stop the flow of people into cities and towns.
Urbanization is one of the most powerful, irreversible
forces in the world. It is estimated that 93 percent of the
future urban population growth will occur in the cities of
Asia.
UN-Habitat has a
long history of cooperation in Sri Lanka in human
settlements development, particularly in the field of
housing and urban development. During an association
spanning over two decades, UN-Habitat has assisted Sri Lanka
in the planning and implementation of many development
programmes.
These include
preparation and implementation of the Master Plan for
Colombo (1978 – 1983); Assistance to the Million Houses
Programme (1984-1988) and the Million-and-a-Half Houses
Programme (1989-1993), which were very innovative programmes
changing the role of Government from a provider of shelter
to the population, to a facilitator of a people based
housing process; Assistance to the Sustainable Cities
Programme in the late 1990’s enabling Colombo Municipality
to improve its environmental planning capacity and urban
planning strategy; The Lunawa Lake Environment Improvement
and Community Development Project started in 2001 assisting
the Government in resettling the displaced families from
this infrastructure development project; Rebuilding
Communities in the North East Sri Lanka (2005-2006), to
improve small-scale infrastructure at neighbourhood level
in four districts in the North East through the involvement
of the conflict affected, urban poor in selection, planning
and implementation of the infrastructure works; Rebuilding
of Community Infrastructure and Shelter in the Tsunami
affected areas. The latter programme of UN-Habitat in
Tsunami reconstruction is assisting 7137 families.”
Minister Mrs.
Ferial Ashraff and the other invitees handed over the
awards, cash prizes and certificates for the winners of the
World Habitat Day Art and Essay competition organized by the
National Housing Development Authority. The prizes for
inter school environmental friendly city designs organized
by the Central Environmental Authority were also distributed
at this ceremony.
