Site and services programmes in Sri Lanka

This paper will attempt to discuss one of the main housing programmes introduced by the Sri Lankan government in order to improve the quality of life of the Sri Lanka - an urban poor. Sri Lanka is a small island with difficult socio-economic problems confronting its fifteen million inhabitants. Approximately 16% of the total population lives in urban areas and one half of the urban dwellers are without steady jobs and they live in old buildings or in unauthorised shanties. Sri Lankan government believes the housing provides a key to the solution of many problems in the country and the sites and services programme was introduced in urban cities to provide the urban poor a buildable land with necessary services and a housing loan. The National Housing Development Authority of Sri Lanka is responsible for making the programme a success with minimum involvement of government and maximum commitment of the target communities. Benificiaries are given a plot of 50 meter square in size under this programme and it is the task of the engineers and planners to fit in all the services in this little space. The programme was launched in 1984 and the Housing Development Authority of Sri Lanka is proud to say that this was able to solve the urban housing problem to a greater extent and wide experience and knowledge gained through this and made the programme well improved. So far the lands and tne services had been given to the communities free of cost and now the strategies are being worked out to recover the costs involved from the beneficiaries.