Construction industry commends President

COLOMBO: Chamber of Construction Industry President Deshabandu Surath Wickramasinghe has praised President Mahinda Rajapaksa's decision on utilising local expertise in making feasibility studies and preparing project reports on development activities.

Wickramasinghe commenting on President's decision said that the practice among most Government agencies is to call on multilateral funding agencies and other NGOs to undertake feasibility studies for projects covering the difficult economic sectors.

"This is a colossal waste of human resources as mentioned by President. The foreign firms and experts entrusted with these tasks very often sub-contract same to local firms or individuals, with minimum inputs from them," Wickramasinghe added.

He mentioned that the ideal scenario is to entrust the responsibility for these studies and reports to Local Consultancy Firms or individuals and if there is a need for specialised inputs, such inputs to be obtained by them from foreign firms.

This way the cost effectiveness of the projects can be ensured. Another important consideration is that more Sri Lankan Professionals will set up consultancy practices in association with Sri Lankan expatriates of varying disciplines working in developed countries to collaborate on Sri Lankan projects.

"We hope you will also look into the influx of foreign consultants and contractors working in Sri Lanka on projects that could be easily implemented by the locals. If so, we could once again save billions of rupees," Wickramasinghe said in the letter to the President.