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Welikadawatte, a middle-class housing estate in Rajagiriya, Sri Lanka, was a result of the first co-operative housing scheme in Sri Lanka. In the mid-1950s, Dr. Seneka Bibile, together with Herbert Keuneman, 'Bonnie' Fernando, Anil and Jeanne Moonesinghe and other members of the radical intelligentsia, founded Sri Lanka's first co-operative housing scheme, the Gothatuwa Building Society. The members of the society were drawn from the ranks of the journalists of the "Lake House" publishing group and of the professors of the University of Ceylon.
Rajagiriya is part of the Sri Lanka's administrative capital of Sri Jayawardenapura. A fairly large suburb bordering Colombo, Rajagiriya lieses between Borella and Ethul Kotte, straddling Parliament Road.
Sri Lanka, officially the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka, is an island country in South Asia, located in the Indian Ocean to the southwest of the Bay of Bengal and to the southeast of the Arabian Sea. The island is geographically separated from the Indian subcontinent by the Gulf of Mannar and the Palk Strait. The legislative capital, Sri Jayawardenepura Kotte, is a suburb of the commercial capital and largest city, Colombo.
Senaka Bibile was a Sri Lankan pharmacologist. He was the founder of Sri Lanka's drug policy, which was used as a model for development of policies based on rational pharmaceutical use in other countries as well by the World Health Organization, the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) and the Non-Aligned Movement. Due to the far reaching effects of his proposals and policies, he has been called the 'greatest medical benefactor of humanity that Sri Lanka has hitherto produced'.
The housing estate was established on land granted through the offices of T. B. Ilangaratne in the Welikada area (Rajagiriya postal area) of Kotte, now the capital of Sri Lanka but then a suburb of Colombo. Originally within a large cinnamon and coconut plantation known as Marandaan Kurunduwatte, it was named Welikadawatte – the Sinhala for "Welikada Gardens". One notable aspect of the scheme was that each of the houses had a distinct design, the architects experimenting with forms new to Sri Lanka at the time. Some of the designs were reminiscent of the approach of Walter Gropius and the Bauhaus – then popularly known as the 'American Style'.
Tikiri Bandara Ilangaratne was a Sri Lankan politician, author, dramatist, and theater actor he was Member of Parliament for Kandy, Galaha, Hewaheta and Kolonnawa in Colombo district. He served as the Sri Lankan Cabinet Minister of Labour, Housing,Social Services, Finance,Commerce, Food, Trade and Shipping and in other government positions in a career spanning three decades. He was the mastermind behind the Employees' Provident Fund, Petroleum and insurance corporations and the People's Bank in Sri Lanka while in office. As a writer, Ilangaratne is best known for writing Amba Yahaluwo (1957), a popular children's novel.
Colombo is the commercial capital and largest city of Sri Lanka by population. According to the Brookings Institution, Colombo metropolitan area has a population of 5.6 million, and 752,993 in the city proper. It is the financial centre of the island and a popular tourist destination. It is located on the west coast of the island and adjacent to the Greater Colombo area which includes Sri Jayawardenepura Kotte, the legislative capital of Sri Lanka and Dehiwala-Mount Lavinia. Colombo is often referred to as the capital since Sri Jayawardenepura Kotte is within the urban area of, and a suburb of, Colombo. It is also the administrative capital of the Western Province and the district capital of Colombo District. Colombo is a busy and vibrant place with a mixture of modern life and colonial buildings and ruins.
The scheme later on expanded considerably, both in size and in population. It attained some fame as an island of intellectual creativity from the mid-1960s onwards.
The offices of the Strømme Foundation, the Humanitarian Information Centre for Sri Lanka Rights, and the English Writers' Co-operative of Sri Lanka are located there.
The Strømme Foundation is a Norwegian volunteer development organization that was established on September 21, 1976. The foundation provides assistance to poor people in the Global South to pull themselves out of poverty through microfinancing. The vision of the Strømme Foundation is a world without poverty.
