Effectiveness of resettlement approach of road development authority to ensure social justification for affected people: case study on Colombo - Katunayake Expressway

Abstract

The development of roads improve the connectivity, reduce regional disparity, open up new markets, generate employment opportunities and thereby bring benefits to majority of the population reducing poverty. However, some people are becoming affected by the negative consequences of these projects. With the introduction of expressways, the population affected by road development has increased during the last decade. The main responsibility of resettling these affected people lies with the executing agency of the project as per the legal framework of Sri Lanka. Road Development Authority (RDA) has carried out resettlement planning for projects during last decade. In carrying out resettlement RDA has taken initiative for many projects like Baseline Project, Outer Circular Highway (OCH) and Southern Transport Development Project (STDP). This study mainly focused on the Colombo Katunayake Expressway (CKE). The study involved household survey, case studies and key informant interviews as primary data collection methods along with secondary data. The land acquisition for the project was started in 1999. Two resettlement sites namely Wanawasala and Meegahawatta were developed for affected people in the Kelaniya Divisional Secretary area by the project. The findings of the case study reveal that housing conditions of the affected people have a positive increase over the past years. However, the re-settlers claim that they have not received title deeds for the land plots in resettlement sites and they have issues in finding schools for children.