WTN Update: Sri Lanka House Building August 9th 2005 from Andy Barrs, the charity’s co-founder.

As our reconstruction program in Sri Lanka is one of the largest projects so far undertaken by the charity, and due to the great deal of negative press regarding bureaucracy and corruption in the country, I was keen to visit myself in order to make sure everything was going to plan. Having been in Galle on the day of the Tsunami, witnessing first-hand the horrors of the disaster, I felt well placed to make a judgment on the current proceedings.

It is interesting when you become directly involved in the situation you begin to understand some of the essential facts that are not always apparent through the British media.

It is worth considering the following:

• In order to rebuild the 100,000 houses destroyed and the 50,000 homes partially damaged by the Tsunami, it is estimated that the construction workload in Sri Lanka is 20 times greater than normal. Other state contracts such as the building of the Colombo to Matara motorway and a new power station, together with normal construction growth, make the task of reconstruction enormous and basically well beyond the capacities of the country.
• The average number of houses constructed within Sri Lanka was, up until the Tsunami, approximately 5,000 per annum. At this rate it would take 20 years to replace the destroyed homes alone. This of course takes no account of the thousands of kilometers of roads that have been affected and the 180 schools that were destroyed or seriously damaged.
• As a result of a shortage of skilled labour and raw materials, prices have gone up considerably. This is not as a result of corruption but simply the forces of supply and demand. Tokyo Cement recently carried out a survey estimating the predicted growth in demand for cement at a rate of 8.5% per annum for the next three years.
• Recently there was a great deal of negative press surrounding the Sri Lankan Government’s levying of a car import tax against Oxfam that you may have read about. The reality is that all charities were given 3.5 months notice to import cars or other vehicles that they needed which Oxfam failed to comply with by their own inefficiency. The criticism of the Sri Lankan Government around this situation was not therefore entirely justified.

The big problem that remains is the 100m Coastal Conservation Zone (CCZ) rule which, whilst still not law, means that organisations and individuals cannot re-build properties within 100m of the sea. The rule appears to be slowly crumbling and the main opposition party has definitely said that they will scrap it. Basically this just leaves everybody with a great deal of uncertainty.

The complexity arises where if you start constructing houses say 0.5 km from the sea and the 100m rule is later abolished, the communities which have been moved will want to go back to their original locations leaving the houses that have been built redundant or up for sale.

Some charities have carried on developing outside the 100m rule regardless of this prospect but I think this is short sighted.

Most organisations have so far concentrated on providing temporary shelters. These are the most basic of constructions consisting either of a large garden shed or a tent, depending on how lucky you are.

The overall effect of the 100m rule is therefore that construction is not taking place at the rate it should do and probably not in the locations that are best suited for long term redevelopment.

What we have done in order to ensure that money is not wasted and that homes are built in the correct location is to work on houses that were destroyed between 100m and 500m of the sea.

Instead of building new “estates” we have effectively carried out infill development, identifying on an individual basis, families in the greatest need of a house.

We have been working in conjunction with ITDG (Intermediate Technology Development Group) the charitable arm of the Schumacher (Small is Beautiful) Institute, to produce a house that is of a better and more solid construction than traditional methodologies could produce, by creating:

• Properties that include a cavity wall and flat roof and are therefore substantially cooler than existing housing stock.
• Properties built with brick that do not use a lime based plaster that is damaging to health. All of our properties can be easily extended upwards and outwards as people recover economically or take in more of the extended family members.
• An inclusion of ‘smoke free’ kitchen technology helping to prevent the development of respiratory diseases caused by cooking on an open fire.
• A reduction in the use of wood and have used several cost effective technologies which reduce the need for steel in the roof for example whilst maintaining the overall strength.

Local people are actively involved within the rebuilding process; with each house built we train two or three new masons so that they develop skills which can be used to provide a future income.

Overall I am delighted with the way our project is running. I genuinely believe that it is one of the best in Sri Lanka at the present time and I think that this is reflected by the fact that a number of major charities have approached us to ask if we can build on larger areas of land if they are able to obtain it.

I am also pleased to report that whilst in Sri Lanka I was able to join in on the official opening of our first two houses which took place on Saturday the 15th of July.

The pictures on this page show the houses and how the project is proceeding.

Another nine houses are now reaching the stage where they can be completed for the next families to move in. Further to this we have identified 19 families within the villages of Madiha East and the neighbouring village of Talpewatte where we intend to continue working over the long-term. Included within this program is the Prabath family (left) who have been living in a crowded camp since the Tsunami.

We are now looking for opportunities to continue our programme in other villages within Matara and its neighbouring districts. I am hopeful that by Christmas we will have completed the construction of all of the houses that you have been kind enough to donate money for.

At this time we will reassess the position and see how we believe we should go forward. As always, many thanks for all of your assistance.

The Damith family before construction

First Pilot Home

Damith family in new home built with WTN & ITDG

2nd pilot home

Osomond family in 2nd home, Grandmother's wheelchair also provided by WTN funds

Prabath Family