The World Habitat
Day 2005 was celebrated under the theme of “Millennium
Development Goals and the City” on 03rd October
2005. This theme chosen by the United Nations, is to remind
that in the year 2000, world leaders meeting at the dawn of
the new Millennium, committed themselves to launch a
concerted attack on poverty, illiteracy, hunger, unsafe
water, disease and urban and environmental degradation by
adopting a set of eight goals.
As
done in other countries in the world, in Sri Lanka too
action was taken by the Ministry of Housing & Construction
Industry, Eastern Province Education & Irrigation
Development and National Housing Development Authority (NHDA)
as a national focal point of UN-Habitat to conduct various
programmes to mark this important event.
The
National School Seminar was the main event on this day and
that was held at the New Town Hall, Colombo, Sri Lanka. The
winners of the World habitat Day Art and Essay competition
which organized by the NHDA received their awards and
certificates at this seminar.
More
than 1500 entries were received for this competition in
which more than 30% were received from North and East school
students, who faced the ethnic problems in last 02 decades.
The special feature in this competition was most of the
awards winners were selected from the North and East
schools.
Nearly 1000 students participated for the National Seminar
representing schools from all parts of the country. Mr.
Prasanna Gunawardena, Mayor of Colombo, Mr. Asad Saly,
Deputy Mayor of Colombo, Mrs. Mallika Karunaratne, Secretary
to the Ministry of Housing & Construction Industry, Eastern
Province Education & Irrigation Development, and Mr.
Parakrama Karunaratne, Chairman of NHDA were present on this
occasion.
Key
Note address on the theme of World Habitat Day was delivered
by Mr. Sunil Sarath Perera, Director of National Water
Supply & Drainage Board. Mr. Perera delivering his speech
said “While the global attention is focused on millennium
development goals, in Sri Lanka, the World Habitat Day
programmes specially focused on the basic problems of
poorest of the poor and low income shelter dwellers such as
shanty development and pure drinking water. This seminar
has given good opportunity to the students to focus their
attention on the shelter field.”
Other than the above seminar and the exhibition, NHDA has
organized series of national school seminars, workshops and
inauguration of housing schemes with the several settlement
development programmes and maintenance activities of the
condominium housing project in Colombo with the assistance
of Colombo Municipal Council in City of Colombo during the
habitat week named for the period from 26th
September to 03rd October 2005.
