Foreign construction workers outshine local counterparts
Chinese workers have come in; Indian workers are competing and over-running the Sri Lankan labour force. Now Nepalese and Myanmar workers are also part of the local workforce as the government has already given the approval to employ them in Sri Lanka’s construction industry.
Adding ‘insult to injury’, Major (Rtd) Ranjith Gunatileke, President, Chamber of Construction Industry (CCI) undermined the efficiency of Sri Lankan workers saying that they are only 25 per cent efficient when compared to Chinese workers.
Maj. Gunatileke was answering queries of journalists at the launch of ‘Build Sri Lanka Housing Construction Expo 2018’ held on Monday at the Galadari Hotel, Colombo.
Nissanka Wijeratne, CEO, CCI making the introductory remarks said that they are to discuss issues facing the construction industry, that of the labour shortage and the Free Trade Agreements (FTAs) with various countries which includes some areas that affect the local construction industry such as foreign companies winning contracts competing with local companies in locally funded projects which would ultimately eliminate the local construction industry altogether.
Elaborating about the exhibition, he said that it would be held from May 18 to 20 at the BMICH and they are the only association or the chamber that conducts two exhibitions within the same year due to the insufficient accommodation of the stalls at the BMICH.
Due to this fact, he said that the chamber is organising a separate exhibition dedicated to ‘Sustainable Energy and Building Management Solutions’ from September 14-16 being the state-recognised apex body representing the entire spectrum of the construction industry. The membership comprises 12 professional bodies of builders, suppliers, manufacturers, designers, quantity surveyors, engineers, architects, among others.
He further said that the worker shortage is immense as there is a shortfall of 350,000 in the construction industry. The crisis is because Sri Lankan school leavers are reluctant to undergo training and join the industry. Thus the industry is compelled to bring workers from neighbouring countries and the government has approved their request.
He said “We have repeatedly informed the government before opening the construction sector to foreign companies, that there should be a proper regulatory framework to protect the domestic industry. In particular we have been insisting that there are 20 very important regulations under the construction industry which should be enacted before entering into FTAs and opening the construction sector to foreigners.”
He said that even though this is accepted in principle, still only five have been accepted. He said that to approve even a small thing the authorities take a long time and by the time it is accepted the problem at issue takes a different form. He urged the government to focus attention on these serious issues to prevent the collapse of the whole local construction industry.
They do not have any objection, he said if foreign companies undertake projects which are funded by foreign sources. It becomes a problem when foreign companies compete with local companies in locally-funded projects. In such a case, the local construction industry is likely to collapse. “You don’t get many locally funded projects and even the small number of locally funded projects are grabbed by the foreign companies as they can tender at very low prices due to various reasons.”
He said that during turbulent (war-affected) times it was the local companies that managed the brunt of the essential construction work while during peaceful times, foreign companies are taking away the business of local companies.
The CCI President said that the Chinese presence depicts the development of any country as they invest in those countries and their machinery and equipment are very cheap and the spiraling high cost of construction industry in Sri Lanka is now sustained as the Chinese involvement (machinery and equipment) enabled them to bring down the cost to at least the present level.
Answering a question whether Chinese workers are paid more than locals, Mr. Gunatileke said that though Chinese workers are short in height, one Chinese worker would carry two steel bars in both hands while two Sri Lankan workers would carry one steel bar, thereby the efficiency of the Sri Lankan workers are 25 per cent.
Justifying the Chinese presence, he said: “Today in Sri Lanka our construction cost is very high. At least we are maintaining at this level because of these machinery and equipment. If you use all other machinery and equipment the cost would go up further.”
No country can say there is development, if there is no construction in that country and whatever the politics there should be movement by the professional level, mid-level, manufacturers, suppliers, traders and the skilled workforce do not put their efforts in this industry.
When the sand shortage matter was raised by the journalists, C. Jayasinghe, Managing Director of CA Crushing (Pvt) Ltd said that they have ventured into manufacturing an alternate source of sand three years ago and pioneered to manufacture sand out of rock which was very successful. He said that when the boulders are fed to the sand manufacturing machine from one side, the sand comes out from the other side. They met the standards and were cheap.
But, he said a problem of a shortage of raw material has now cropped up as all the boulders are now moved to the Port City projects from the suburbs of the Western Province.
He said that they are involved in washing the sea sand pumped from the sea for the Land Reclamation Board and it could also be an alternative for the now restricted river sand.
But the CCI CEO indicated that the requirement of sand annually is 12 million cubic metres and the supply is incapable of meeting this demand and noted that now they are examining the possibility of importing sand.