Exporting construction skills

By Lakwimashi Perera

An economic slowdown that has affected construction companies has led to industry professionals marketing their skills overseas in a bid to stay in business.

Surath Wickramasinghe, President of the Chamber of Construction Industry (CCI) told The Sunday Times FT that a 25-member chamber delegation is joining Ministers Prof. G. L. Peiris and Rajitha Senaratne to Qatar and Dubai in early November for discussions on marketing Sri Lankan construction skills.

Wickramasinghe said everything from the drawing up of plans to the calculations that are part of the process will be offered. Structural engineering, mechanical engineering, architecture, in short, all the services that are needed in the initial stages of construction will be on offer.

Most of the country’s top organizations will be represented in the delegation. He said this would enable ‘us to market our professional skills’ and will help the industry tide over the bad times while retaining the professionals in the country.

A spokesperson for construction major, Sanken Lanka Ltd, said a downturn in the real estate industry has also affected the construction industry. "There is a problem of getting paid," he said but added that they don’t halt construction work even though payments are delayed. Instead, the pace of the work is slowed down. "What can we do if they don't have money?" he asked.