Accessible construction 

Sri Lanka’s construction industry is an important part of growth, especially since COVID-19 has hit sectors such as tourism and remittances hard. The industry could also benefit from reducing interest rates and drive growth in an otherwise largely lacklustre economic situation. The sector also recently received a boost from a fresh round of regulation.

One of the biggest issues, and this is something anyone who has even attempted to build a gutter will relate to, is the absolutely incompetence and unprofessionalism of many contractors and construction workers. Many will take on projects, only to discharge them haphazardly, or in the worst-case scenarios, play out the client and abandon the project.

Even architects struggle to work with the workmen, and finishing jobs on time is all but a dream – even for the wealthiest of clients. This, put together with the comparatively higher cost of raw materials – most of which have to be imported or purchased from monopolies – and labour costs, means that construction is not for the faint-hearted.  

To fix this partly, Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa – who is also the Minister of Urban Development, Water Supply and Housing Facilities – has promulgated new regulations under the Construction Industry Development Act dealing with registration of skilled workers, issuing of ID cards, sanctioning and penalty for errant contractors, and disciplinary procedures for qualified persons in the industry.

These include workers, construction site supervisors, middle-level technical officers and other professionals in the construction industry regulations of 2020, disciplinary procedure for qualified persons regulations, guidelines for disciplinary procedure for registered contractors regulations, and craft identity cards regulations. 

Under the regulations for registering skilled construction workers, construction site supervisors, middle-level technical officers, and any other professionals in the industry, the Construction Industry Development Authority will be required to maintain a register with names, contact details, qualifications, etc. 

The register will be treated as a directory of skilled sector workers and be open for public inspection during office hours. This should also be posted online for easier access. There was to be widespread awareness created for the public to start demanding to see credentials and former projects before new contracts are given. 

The regulations also include contractors being held responsible if their workplaces become dengue breeding sites, and the offending companies will have their names publicised. 

Such measures should also be expanded to include smaller workmen and contractors at the provincial level and those registers should be published widely so low-income clients can also benefit from the regulations. There should also be a disciplinary process for fraudulent companies, from the large to the small, so that at least their names are collected in one place to help others avoid them. 

These cases usually get tangled up in years of court proceedings and people continue to run into trouble. There is also the need to have a set of standardised prices, which already exists, but have to be made available. The construction industry would benefit massively if the industry established at least some self-regulatory protocol where there were measures to support smaller investors. After all, the dream to build a home is a common one, and it should not be an opportunity to be swindled.