One million construction jobs lost due to economic crisis 

The severe challenges faced by the local construction industry were revealed in Parliament during a sitting of the Sectoral Oversight Committee on Alleviating the Impact of the Economic Crisis recently when it was disclosed that at least one million jobs in the sector have been affected due to the ongoing economic crisis.

The Committee chaired by MP Gamini Waleboda met with representatives of associations representing small, medium, and large-scale construction companies in the construction sector covering all provinces of Sri Lanka. 

However, the President emphasised the need for a dedicated agency to carry out this task in the future. Wickremesinghe shared these intentions during a meeting with Governing and Opposition MPs at the Parliament Complex.

Architectural associations, various engineering associations, the Construction Industry Development Authority (CIDA), and the Chamber of Construction Industry of Sri Lanka also attended the meeting where basic plans needed to save the construction sector were discussed with stakeholders present. 

Among the many obstacles faced by the industry revealed at the meeting were the loss of jobs, collapse of related institutions, destruction of assets and the mass exodus of professionals in the sector. It was also recognised that there were issues such as a lack of institutions for training opportunities for apprentices in the construction sector.

The solutions and proposals to address the issues were discussed and a document containing 50 key issues was presented to the committee by the participating stakeholders. 

According to the document submitted, it was decided to classify the existing problems into issues that need short, medium, and long-term solutions and to also identify institutions that must support the resolution process. 

It was also decided to draw the attention of the relevant Ministry to the possibility of immediately lowering the price of construction materials and to take possible measures in this regard with the intervention of the Trade and Commerce Ministry.