ABSTRACT
However, on the long run, the new coastal protection zone and the rehabilitation strategies which have been proposed by the local urban development authority tend to cause serious disconnections and dislocations to the fishery communities. Such is the case for Hambantota Town, situated on the south coast of the island. The respective government policies are promoting a two-fold strategy for advanced urbanisation projects on the continental part, allocating coastal communities and exposing the old waterfront to future schemes of a mega-port plan drawn as a blue print for posttsunami redevelopment. But these schemes divide and fragment sustainable settlement patterns rather than creating them, as well as compromising existing local values.
