UDA reviews expert submissions on planning and development regulations

The UDA says it hopes to amend the 34 year-old existing Building and Planning regulations for high-rise apartment projects countrywide.

A UDA official said that Cabinet approval would be sought to reinforce the new regulations with a new set of programmes to make the regulations well matched with the field of modern development.

These proposed regulations seen as taking land, planning and building laws into their hands by the UDA officers via the introduction of new regulations, has drawn concern from professionals and public interest activists.

In a letter addressed to some of these professional associations, experts and civil society activists, the UDA said further clarifications will be sought and discussed in due course.

The Sri Lanka Engineers Institution (SLEI), a few weeks ago, strongly objected to the attempts made by the UDA to gazette these regulations without entertaining representations from the engineering fraternity. The Institution of Engineers also raised objections.

In a letter to the UDA chairman, the SLEI has raised their objections against bringing new regulations hurriedly without giving adequate time for engineers to express their views on the final draft. .

The association welcomed the UDA’s recent action to review representations made by professionals, experts in the relevant filed, public interest activists and engineers.

The new regulations regarding land and building construction coming under the control of the UDA are confusing, a leading public interest activist in this field lamented.

He noted that those UDA regulations in regard to land division plans are impracticable and there was a hidden agenda of such plans.

It is almost the same set of regulations which was rejected by the professionals in 2019 under the previous government and it has resurfaced, he alleged.

This was an attempt to divide government and private-owned barren lands into blocks of lands countrywide in the country for real estate development and construction of high-rise and other buildings, he disclosed.

In his letter, the public interest activist, who requested anonymity, stated that there are regulative provisions to execute agreements by the UDA and the National Physical Planning Department (NPPD).

These regulative provisions are applicable countrywide, he pointed out.

The UDA has made an attempt to become the one and only regulator while ignoring the available legal enactments to institutions by introducing new regulations which will be gazetted soon, he warned.