Colombo desperately needs water supply, sanitation reforms
The need for replacement and repair to Colombo's water supply and sanitation was noted by Ms Rita O'sullivan, Country Director, Sri Lanka, Asian Development Bank (ADB) when she addressed delegates from six South Asian countries at the inauguration of the three day workshop on 'Gender and Urban Poverty in South Asia held in Colombo this week.
She stressed this need because much of this infrastructure for water supply and sanitation dates back to the British colonial era. She said that due to a constant influx of usually poor people to Colombo, there is a heavy strain on these amenities. She said that in addition to the influx of poor people, Colombo has over 1,600 underserved settlements which need improvements in relation to physical infrastructure, water supply and sanitation and power supply, etc.
Ms O'sullivan said that Sri Lanka has made significant investment in the urban sector to upgrade and improve urban basic services and the portfolio includes the Local Government Infrastructure Improvement Project ($50 million - ADB, $12 million from the Government and $4.7 million - local authorities) in 2005 and the follow-on Local Government Enhancement Sector Project ($59 million) in 2011.
She said that there are also many projects in the water supply and sanitation sector, including the ongoing Secondary Towns Rural Community-based Water supply and Sanitation project, the Dry Zone Urban Water and Sanitation project, the Greater Colombo Waste water Project, and the Jaffna-killinochchi Water Supply and Sanitation Project. She said that they also have recently launched the City Cluster Economic Development operation (CCED) Phase III as a private public partnership with ADB technical assistance and AuSAID financial support. Ms Sumithra Rahubadda, Secretary, Ministry of Child Development and Women's Empowerment said that the workshop was on sharing the emerging good practices in gender and socially-inclusive design of urban infrastructure and development