A framework to minimise public nuisance related issues of urban construction projects in Sri Lanka

Abstract

The construction industry is one of the major economic drivers of any country. Comparing to rural areas many construction projects are happened in urban areas. Urban construction projects usually have high risk processes with several constraints. Public nuisance is an aspect that is linked with urban construction projects due to its operations in congested environment. Although there are some researches have been carried out over public nuisance related issues of urban construction projects for the global context, there is a lack of an investigation about public nuisance related issues, and the causes behind them in urban construction projects of Sri Lanka. Hence, there is a need to investigate public nuisance related issues, their causes, mechanisms to minimize them in urban construction projects and legal provisions available in Sri Lanka. Therefore, this research aimed to develop a framework to minimise public nuisance related issues in urban construction projects in Sri Lanka. The research followed a qualitative research approach with a case study method selecting three similar urban construction projects in Colombo metropolitan area. Semi structured interviews were conducted in collecting data from each selected case study along with observations and document review. Then the collected data were analysed through content analysis. As it was found from literature there are seven types of public nuisance related issues namely, noise & vibration, dust & smoke, mosquito breeding, odour effect, traffic impact, waste and water & air pollution. These issues were found in selected cases for the study and operation of concrete pumping machines, generators and drilling and grinding works, wall chasing, sanding putty for painting, and demolitions, incomplete concrete tanks, flower buckets, pool area and disposed water containable items, food waste and toilets, entering of heavy vehicles to the site, disposal of chemicals and polluted water were the causes for above mentioned nuisance issues. Court injunctions due to the noise & vibration and dust & smoke issues, additional cost due to mitigation works and delays in certain actions can be pointed out as the impacts of the issues of mosquito breeding, odour effect, traffic impact, waste and water & air pollution. Furthermore, through proper planning and executing, the impact of public nuisance in urban construction projects can be minimised. Moreover, conducting noise generating activities at night, using sound barriers, destroying mosquito breeding places, treating water stagnated areas, removing food and construction waste to the approved yards appropriately, educate workers to minimize water and air pollution, using filtration system before discharging water in to water resources were the strategies taken to minimise the issues due to public nuisance. In Sri Lanka, there are several legal provisions related to the public nuisance issues. Moreover, Nuisances Ordinance, National Environmental Act, Code of Criminal Procedure Act, Penal Code, Municipal Council Ordinance, Urban Councils Ordinance, and Pradeshiya Sabha Act are the commonly used public nuisance related legal provisions in Sri Lanka. Eventually, a framework was developed to minimise the Public Nuisance of urban construction projects by integrating the types of Public Nuisance, the causes for them, their impact to the construction projects and Nuisance Acts and Ordinances available in Sri Lanka.