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| Tuesday, 10 August 2004 |
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PM pledges to protect all stakeholders in construction industry
Prime Minister Mahinda Rakapakse yesterday pledged to protect all stakeholders in the local construction industry to the maximum extent possible within the constraints imposed by international aid. The Government is committed to evolve policies and strategies to protect the local Sri Lankan Market for the country's own construction industry to the maximum extent possible, the Premier said at the Ceremonial Inauguration of the First Annual Technical Sessions of the Chamber of Construction Industry at the Colombo Plaza. He said "Many have been the skills and capabilities displayed by the different business entities and individual professionals in the Construction Industry of our country." "Against this background we have to note with regret, an unfortunate tendency that has surfaced in recent times.While the necessary capacities, know-how and technical competence remain available within the National Construction Industry, foreign consultants and foreign contractors have been employed to undertake tasks which Sri Lankan firms and professionals are able to accomplish with excellence." The Premier noted that in a sense this was a fall out of hitching ourselves to the International Aid System which our country had to do, increasingly, in the last 25 years or so. He said "It has been said that Sri Lankan engineers and architects are capable of drawing construction designs that will cost much less to implement than those drawn by foreign consultants and foreign firms." "For instance,I have heard it said with authority that the construction costs of the Mahaweli project could have been very much lower if the designs had been drawn by Sri Lankan engineers. I have heard it argued that the foreign designs resulted in the use of much higher quantities of concrete than was in fact required. We must remember that in this way we increase our level of debt to the multilateral banks and bilateral donors to a much greater extent than is in fact required." Our government is committed to evolve policies and strategies to protect the local Sri Lankan market for the country's own Construction Industry, to the maximum extent possible within the constraints imposed by the international aid system. We will act with firm resolve, to ensure that the interests of the different categories of stakeholders in the Construction industry who constitute your membership, are protected to the maximum extent possible, within the constraints imposed by international aid. It is the function of Chambers such as yours, to provide our government with the necessary muscle to fight your cause for you. The 'Voice of the Construction Industry' must be strong and professional. And in this sense, we are most encouraged to find you dedicating your very first Annual Sessions to the discussion of two subjects that are of immediate professional importance to the Construction Industry of our country, he said. |
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