Eighty-seven unauthorised structures have been identified along Marine Drive between Bambalapitiya and the Wasala Canal in Wellawatte, Environment Minister Dr. Dammika Patabendi said on Thursday, NewsFirst reported.
Speaking to News 1st, the minister said steps will be taken to remove them within this month. He said five zones have been identified where protection and conservation measures are required because of unauthorised construction, and that the Department of Coast Conservation and Coastal Resource Management is responsible for overseeing protection of the coastline along Marine Drive.
NewsFirst spells the minister’s name Dhammika Patabendi; earlier coverage of the same clearance drive gives it as Dammika Patabendi, the form used here.
It is the first number attached to the clearance drive
This is the first time an official has put a figure on the Colombo coastal clearance operation.
When Patabendi announced the removals on 5 September, he described a corridor running from Galle Face to the Bolgoda River, divided into five zones, with legal advice already obtained from the Attorney General. Neither outlet covering that announcement said how many structures were affected — a gap flagged in our report at the time.
Thursday’s figure answers it, but only for part of the corridor. Bambalapitiya to the Wasala Canal is a short segment of the Galle Face–Bolgoda stretch, so 87 is not the total for the whole operation. The minister did not give a figure for the rest.
The 10 September deadline has passed without a clearance
The timing is the more significant part of the announcement.
Reporting on 5 September, Hiru News said Coast Conservation authorities had instructed the removal of unauthorised hotels, businesses and other structures on the Bambalapitiya-to-Dehiwala stretch before 10 September, with legal and administrative action threatened against anyone who did not comply.
Thursday was that deadline. Rather than confirming a clearance, the minister said removal will take place “within this month” — a restatement that pushes the operation past the date first given.
One obstacle is already on the record. On 9 September the Court of Appeal issued an interim order restraining the demolition of a Wellawatte beach restaurant until 21 September, on an application against a notice from the Director General of Coast Conservation. Wellawatte falls inside the stretch the minister was describing, and that order runs eleven days past the deadline.
NewsFirst does not mention the court order, and does not say whether it accounts for the revised timetable.
Not reported
NewsFirst does not say how many of the 87 structures are businesses or homes, how many owners have been served notice, or whether any hold disputed permits rather than none. It does not name the five zones or say whether they are the same five described on 5 September.
It does not give a date within the month for the removals, say what happens to occupants, or address compensation. It carries no response from any affected owner and no comment from the Coast Conservation department.
Sourcing note
NewsFirst is the only verified newsroom to have filed on this count. The Daily Mirror’s latest-news listing carried nothing on it, Hiru News’s English listing carried nothing on it, and Ada Derana returned a CloudFront 403 across the whole domain throughout this cycle, so it could not be checked. A search across the verified outlets returned only the earlier coastal-enforcement coverage already cited above.
