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| Monday, 16 June 2003 |
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Under 'Regaining Sri Lanka' Construction reps pledge their best for development projects Construction industry representatives are keen on contributing their best to the Government's proposed development projects which are to be implemented under the Regaining Sri Lanka. They called upon the Government to allow them to participate in the implementation of construction and reconstruction projects in a significant way. President, Chamber of Construction Industry Sri Lanka, Surath Wickramasinghe said that his Chamber consists of professionals covering every sector in the industry such as architects, quantity surveyors, valuers, consulting engineers, planners, insurers and contractors. "We have vast experience and know-how to handle any construction or infrastructure project. Therefore, we are keen to contribute our best by sharing our wealth of experience," he told the Daily News. He was speaking on utilisation of foreign aid following the Tokyo Donor Conference where Sri Lanka was pledged US$ 4.5 billion to be used over a four-year period. He lauded Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe's speech at the Tokyo conference where the Premier said "Sri Lanka has to overcome the delays, the blockages and the inertia of its bureaucratic apparatus and transform it into one capable of speedy implementation where work is done efficiently and effectively. This requires significant political resolve and I intend to provide the leadership necessary to achieve this result." Chamber President said that the Government and the private sector should work in a concerted effort to set up a committee which consists public and private sector people who are knowledgeable and experienced in such implementation processes. "Our Chamber is prepared to cooperate and extend its fullest support to implement and complete construction projects on time and to the standards required by the Government," he said. Surath Wickramasinghe said that if the country is to gain the optimum of foreign aid, we need to commence preliminary work immediately. "We need to make speedy arrangements to design projects, call for tenders and select the parties concerned which normally consume much time - at some times up to one year." The country has a negative record in the degree of utilisation of foreign aid in the past. "Therefore, we need to accelerate project implementation to make the full use of these funds. From 1981 to 2002, the country's utilisation of funds has been ranged from 18 to 21 percent. However, Finance Minister K.N.Choksy has said that the Government is committed to increase aid utilisation to 45% by 2004 which is an encouraging move." Therefore we expect the Government to accelerate the project implementation process while making use of the local expertise to the benefit of the whole nation, he said. |
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