Govt supports construction industry initiatives - Minister Peiris
Sanjeevi JAYASURIYA
|
Minister Peiris |
The Government will support initiatives taken by the construction
industry. There are many opportunities available within Sri Lanka and
industry stakeholders need to capture them. There is an enormous volume
of construction related development in the country and the stakeholders
could be gainfully employed, External Affairs Minister Prof. G L Peiris
said.
The Minister was speaking at the inauguration of the Excon 2010 mega
construction exhibition yesterday. Housing and Construction Engineering
Services Minister Wimal Weerawansa and Deputy Minister Geethanjana
Gunawardena were also present.
"A comprehensive policy with an integrated and holistic approach
covering all aspects of the construction industry is necessary.
The country's professionals are the abiding strength and they need to
be provided with a conducive environment for rapid development", he
said.
"Chamber of Construction Industry President Surath Wickremasinghe
said there is a need to establish an infrastructure development fund to
facilitate major projects and the Chamber of Construction Industry Sri
Lanka is in the process of working towards achieving this goal.
It is important to clear the bottlenecks in the construction industry
to develop further and make optimum use of resources.
"The construction industry has a pool of talented human resources.
They are willing to provide their services for the national projects.
These capabilities and competencies could be made use of by the Urban
Development Authority for improved service quality, Wickramasinghe said.
The fast track development drive can be fuelled by the contribution
of the construction industry.
The construction of 3,000 housing units at a cost of Rs 2.5 million
each is currently under way.
Six multi disciplinary groups have been set up to reach this target.
This project will cost Rs ten billion which will be raised through Rs 5
billion debenture issue and loan funding.
Prime sites in Colombo have already been identified for development.
There is a need for a time frame to complete these projects, he said. |
