CIOB to conduct seminar: ‘Reviving of the construction industry amidst the forex crisis’

CIOB plans to conduct a seminar, ‘Reviving of the construction industry amidst the forex crisis’, on 31 March at the Taj at 4 p.m. It aims to collaborate with an eminent panel of guest speakers, invitees and participants, to work against the stoppage of construction in Sri Lanka, by discussing the adoption of alternatives which would allow the construction industry to continue without ending the development of our country. 

CIOB President Dr. Rohan Karunaratne says, “This seminar is conducted at an opportune, climatic moment in the history of Sri Lanka’s construction industry. CIOB has repeatedly conveyed to the Government that the solution is not to stop construction but to adopt alternatives for this problem. The reason for this seminar is to find alternatives that should be adopted.” 

He continues, “The construction industry is one of the largest industries in Sri Lanka, one of the largest GDP contributors and employment generators of the country – involving around 1 million people. Currently around 50% of the industry has been suspended because of the non-availability of materials and the price hike. This affects not only Sri Lanka’s development, but our GDP, employment levels and economic stability. Therefore, the purpose of this seminar is to bring together a multifarious variety of industry personnel to resolve this crisis. 

“Though the Government has announced that they will stop new construction for the next year or two, this has been noted to be a very ill-timed and harmful decision because the repercussions as mentioned earlier are far and wide. Instead, it is advisable to find answers to the forex problem. This is because more than 50% of construction materials in luxury buildings (high-rises, hotels and so on) are imported items. Therefore, the focus should be on encouraging the local manufacturing of these, currently imported, items. Or changing our current choices of materials altogether, in favour of materials that are specific to and available in Sri Lanka.”