- UDA committee to work with Surbana Jurong Group advisors
A team of specialists appointed by the Urban Development Authority (UDA) to study the implementation of the stalled Megapolis Planning Project will meet stakeholders in Colombo this week to prepare a draft agreement between the UDA and the Ministry of Urban Development and Housing on how to proceed with the plan, The Sunday Morning learns.
It is learnt that once the draft agreement is approved, the UDA and the ministry will enter into an agreement which will outline the possible timeframe of the initial stages of the Megapolis project.
The move follows a directive by the President to the UDA to implement the Megapolis plan.
The project, initiated in 2015, had been active till the end of September 2017 and a sum of Rs. 330.23 million had been incurred for the project, an Auditor General’s report revealed.
However, the project stalled due to policy and funding issues, followed by complications with the Covid-19 pandemic and the economic crisis.
The report also raised questions about some of the expenditure incurred by the project before it came to a halt.
When contacted, UDA Additional Director General Mahinda Withanaarachchi told The Sunday Morning that the authority had appointed a team to study the Megapolis plan and those of the Trincomalee strategic project and the Hambantota special investment zone.
“We have appointed a team under the leadership of a deputy director general of planning and given them a target to achieve. This is not only for the Megapolis plan. The UDA has also been tasked with the Trinco masterplan and that of the Greater Hambantota zone. Therefore, we have appointed several teams to work with them.”
However, Withanaarachchi would not comment on the targets given, sources of funding, or a possible timeline for implementation.
When asked, Withanaarachchi said that the appointed teams of planners would work with Singapore-based Surbana Jurong Group, a consulting firm that advises on urban infrastructure and managed services. The firm had received Cabinet approval to act as consultants.
According to UDA Deputy Director General (Planning) Zone II Lalith Wijayarathne, once the agreement is signed, a timeline can be decided.