Houses stuck together like a long stretch of sliced sandwich bread is a common sight in most parts of Colombo, but despite the increasing housing density in urban areas Sri Lanka lacks any standards on building them.
"There is no national policy or even a set of minimum Sri Lankan standards to ensure quality when building houses in Sri Lanka," said S M Karunarathna, Secretary to the Housing & Construction Industry Ministry.rn
rnNow the Ministry wants to put the countrys house building in order with some very Sri Lankan flavoured regulations.rn
rnrnThe Ministry is hard at work with a recently set up housing think tank- made up of government officials and construction industry professionals - developing a set of quality standards for future houses and apartments.
rnrnrnThe focus is on setting standards in keeping with the local lifestyle - with special emphasis on local cuisine and eating habits.
rnrnrn"The design and the construction of houses must be in keeping with national identity and requir