6 October 2014,  Colombo, Sri Lanka: Sri Lanka’s first National Housing Policy was launched by the President of Sri Lanka, His Excellency Mahinda Rajapakse, at the World Habitat Day celebrations in Colombo. Over 5,000 people from the city’s underserved settlements including school children participated at the celebrations. This event marked the culmination of a series of celebrations organised by Government agencies responsible for promoting sustainable human settlements.

In the lead up to the main celebrations, 1,000 poor urban families received ownership documents establishing security of tenure for their homes. Many other events actively engaged young people to improve awareness and promote creative expressions through art, drama and sporting events. The President, His Excellency Mahinda Rajapakse, the Minister of Construction, Engineering Services, Housing and Common Amenities, Hon.Wimal Weerawansa and other distinguished guests awarded prizes to the winners of the competitions.

The President noted that Sri Lanka has been a pioneer in community and social housing, and an advocate of the Habitat Agenda. “I envision each Sri Lankan citizen enjoying a happy and productive life, in a decent home, within a healthy human settlement” he added, while highlighting that sustainable development must be inclusive, devoid of racial, religious or political divides.

Minister Weerawansa highlighted that Sri Lanka has been a regional champion of healthy human settlements. “Amongst South Asian nations, Sri Lanka has the lowest ratio of population occupying inadequate housing” he said. Since 2011, Sri Lanka has built 400,000 permanent houses compliant with national housing standards. The newly introduced National Housing Policy will both raise housing standards in Sri Lanka and also provide a framework to address  future challenges.

Earlier, Mr. P H L W Perera, Secretary, Ministry of Construction, Engineering, Services, Housing and Common Amenities welcomed the guests. Mr. Saman Ekanayake, UN-Habitat Programme Manager for Sri Lanka quoting the Executive Director of UN-Habitat, Dr. Joan Clos, highlighted the importance of moving beyond the Millennium Development Goals towards promoting better human settlements planning and dealing with urbanization. He added “we urgently need to focus our efforts on robust urban planning and the provision of safe, affordable housing that is appropriate and adequate for our citizens’ growing needs.”

The Ministry of Construction, Engineering Services, Housing and Common Amenities was the convener of this year’s celebrations under theme “Voices from Slums”. The Ministry partnered with line agencies such as the National Housing Development Authority, Urban Settlement Development Authority and the Urban Development Authority, as well as the United Nations Human Settlements Programme (UN-Habitat).