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Concern
over construction material price rise Commenting on the rising cost of construction material in the country, President of the Chamber of Construction Industries of Sri Lanka, Surath Wickramasinghe said the price of sand had risen from Rs. 1800 to over Rs. 5000 per metric cube. He said the primary cause for the price rise was the lack of sand supplied from rivers. He said the government had stopped issuing sand mining licences due to the continuing damage to river banks and river beds. As an alternative, Mr. Wickramasinghe suggested that the government should look at releasing the 30 million metric cubes of sand at Muthurajawela which had been pumped from the sea for the Katunayaka expressway project. ' If washed and cleaned under supervision, this sand would help increase supply and bring down the current prices', he said. He said steel prices too had skyrocketed of late, with a tonne going from Rs. 44,000 to Rs. 80,000 in a short time. However, a slight drop has been evident recently, with prices settling at around Rs. 70,000 per tonne. Mr. Wickremesinghe identified the increased demand for steel in China and the Middle East as a cause for this increase. Cement prices also have increased with effect from this week. He said the temporary closure of Mahaweli Marine Cement may be responsible for this price hike. |
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