International exposure to compete with other
countries vital:
Sri Lanka has potential to capture global construction market
Sanjeevi JAYASURIYA
The country has the potential to capture the global construction
market and international exposure is necessary to compete with other
countries, Chief Executive Officer/Secretary General, Chamber of
Construction Industry Dakshitha Thalgodapitiya told Daily News Business.
“What our construction industrialists lack is the experience in
handling mega scale global construction projects. They should be
encouraged to secure sub-contracts to gain experience to become the main
contractors”, he said.
The Chamber pioneered the first trade delegation to Qatar in 2007
followed by another delegation to the UAE in 2008. There are many
opportunities for Sri Lankan construction industry professionals in the
fields of architecture, quantity surveying and engineering. There are
several local professionals working in Dubai, Qatar and Oman at present,
he said.
The Chamber’s efforts to promote the country’s construction industry
internationally should be supported by the Government together with
private sector participation. To meet international demand, careful
planning and reasonable time is necessary to establish linkages, he
said.
There is a drop in the demand in the Gulf region due to the global
recession. We need to wait till the Gulf economy picks up. There would
be a positive impact on the local construction industry with the
recession slowing down and we could expect a demand for our
industrialists in the near future, he said.
Excon 2009 - Exposition for the Construction Industry will be the
first international construction exhibition with over 300 trade stalls
to be held from October 30 - November 1 at the Sirimavo Bandaranaike
Memorial Exhibition Centre organized by the Chamber of Construction
Industry. “Over 60 foreign industrialists have confirmed participation.
The exhibition would focus on property developers to resurrect
abandoned properties and development projects to facilitate the sale of
completed apartments. It also intends to attract direct foreign
investors, local financial institutions and potential buyers under one
roof”, he said.
The accredited representative of the domestic construction industry
has designed “Excon 2009”, the sixth in the series of trade fairs
presented by the Chamber to enhance the capabilities and competitiveness
of construction industrialists.
The exhibition will showcase and introduce cost effective,
environment friendly and alternative construction technologies and
materials, building linkages between the SME sector and regional
contractors with major constituents and overseas contractors. It will
promote the export of construction related professional services and
contracting capacities and facilitate foreign direct investments in
infrastructure development, urban regeneration and other construction
related projects.
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