Financial Times

Boom times ahead for construction industry
By Nimesha Herath
Sri Lanka’s construction industry, despite the LTTE violence and political uncertainly, has gone through a reasonable 2005 and sees boom times ahead.
At least one top-of-the-range company recorded a turnover of over Rs 2 billion and over Rs 150 million in profits, construction analysts said.

They said with plans by the new government for expanded infrastructure work and speedier tsunami reconstruction this year even as peace talks are close to getting underway, the industry expects a much better year in 2006. “The buoyancy in the construction industry is not visible due to two main reasons. There is an inadequacy in the skilled work force due to many migrating and also a shortage in the building materials.

Even the quality of these materials is not up to standards. We have a shortage in sand and materials like timber, bricks and metal are imported,” noted Rukshan Widyalankara, President of Sri Lanka Institute of Architects (SLIA). He said there is a lot of potential in the consultancy sector with local professionals having the capacity to be hired in quantity surveying, architecture, etc. "There is no need to seek foreign consultancy when there are skilled people available here,” he said. The government has said it plans to use more local skills and expertise than foreign contractors in large scale infrastructure work.

Another director of a construction firm said the government needs to provide sufficient incentives and encourage people who are willing and are capable of investing in this industry. “With peace negotiations on the way, people’s confidence in the government would be favourable towards investment. The government needs to take initiatives and allow road construction projects in the private sector and allow them to charge a toll for its usage,” one industry specialist suggested.

Specialists say the new government is expected to provide new opportunities for the industry given the amount of work that is in hand. SLIA's Widyalankara said the current political view vis-à-vis the industry is quite favourable as they (government) are keen to hire local skills in engineering, architects, etc. "We hope they put this plan into action soon.”

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