Last month we proudly completed a three month community effort to rehabilitate the approach road to our 12 house neighbourhood off Peradeniya Road at Siebel Place. We felt that that our experience was worth sharing with our fellow Kandy citizens and the KMC. It is a small lesson in what citizens could do for themselves without asking the KMC or government to do everything for them.

Our road is a private road and does not have a name and we want to keep it that way. Nobody in the neighbourhood was keen to handover the road to the KMC and make it a public road that also would have made it a burden on the Kandy ratepayers. This nameless road is located off Peradeniya Road approaching Kandy on the left just after Primrose Road. It is approximately 325 meters in length and the average width is a little less than three meters.
The road was in a very bad state of repair. In January this year the neighbors met for the first time to discuss what to do. A few who could not attend sent word that they were with the community on the proposed project. Everybody agreed that we should do a good and long-lasting rehabilitation job. This meeting was followed by three more such meetings until the contract was finalized.

None of us had any technical knowledge of engineering let alone road engineering. We got the assistance of a top road engineer and a highly experienced professional road construction quantity surveyor. Both volunteered their services. The engineer gave us technical advise and supervised the contractors work. The quantity surveyor gave us a cost estimate.

We got bids from four contractors. The consultant engineer helped choose one that happened to be technically the best and also the lowest priced. The total cost that included repair of the side storm drain and the entrance from the main road was Rs 344,000 or about Rs. 430 per square meter.

Community projects usually break down when the participants can't agree on how to share the cost. We had the following four-point formula to resolve the issue.

1.Distance from the main (Peradeniya) road to the house. The greater the distance higher the payment.

2.State of disrepair of the road from the entrance at Peradeniya Road to the house. Greater the state of disrepair higher the payment.

3.Use of the road. Those who did not own a vehicle to pay less than those who owned. Those with multiple vehicles to pay more than those who owned one. Those who got a lot of regular visitors who came by motor car to pay more than others.

4.Capacity to pay. Those who displayed more income and wealth to pay more.
Everybody accepted formula as a reasonable basis to share the cost. We were unable to contact the owner of a rented house and one member of the community with capacity to pay volunteered to take that share which was comparatively modest. We also failed to get the participation of the owner of a block of vacant land. We decided to ignore that to expedite the work. Except for these two small glitches everybody paid what was asked from them in the following shares: 1-33%, 2- 15% each, 1 -10%, 1- 06%, 4 - 04% each, 1 - 03%, and 2 - 01% each.

All paid the money before the construction commenced.

Our honorary consultant engineer kept an eye on the work in all its different stages. This proved to be very helpful because it is well known that some contractors use sub-standard material and take other short cuts to save money resulting in shoddy work.

The contractor originally promised to finish the work in about 18 days but he took about 25.
The proof of the pudding is in the eating. In the case of our road the ultimate test will be how long it would last. That only time will tell. As a precaution we have kept 10% of the contract fee for 4 months to make it obligatory for the contractor to bear the cost of any immediate construction failures.

Before rehabilitation
After rehabilitation

The following are the lessons that we learned that may be useful to other neighbourhood communities in Kandy that wish to undertake similar projects.

•Somebody has to take the initiative/leadership. But make sure that all participants have responsibility for and ownership of the project.

•Make the entire process and transactions very transparent and keep everybody informed.

•Keep written records/minutes of meetings and discussions and maintain verifiable accounts.

•Get sound technical advice.

•Develop a formula for cost sharing that is reasonable to all.

•After you agree to a program of work keep to it unless there is a major reason for change.

I must also mention a major factor that stood in our favour to successfully undertake this project. Our neighbourhood consists of above average upper middle class residents who could afford to spare the money for the road rehabilitation. In a poorer neighbourhood the cost will be beyond the reach of the people. In a more mixed neighbourhood the task will be a little harder to accomplish but if handled adroitly not impossible.

The road rehabilitation project has also infused a new spirit of neighborliness that appears to have outlasted the project itself. Now some are talking of installing street lights and beautifying the approach road.