Brighter future for construction industry

Mohammed NAALIR

COLOMBO: The Growth in the construction Industry was 7.42 per cent in 2006 according to the Central Bank report, Construction and Engineering Services Minister Rajitha Senaratne said.

The Ministry is aiming to increase this before the end of this year. He said the Ministry invites constructive proposals from the National Construction Association of Sri Lanka (NCASL) and Chamber of Construction Industry (CCI) to achieve this goal.

The Construction Industry has contributed to 52 per cent to the Gross Domestic Fixed Capital (GDFC) formation and provided employment to nearly 500,000 persons in the construction industry within a short period.

The disturbing pattern in the Construction Industry is that nearly 95 per cent employees are engaged in the industry as labour sub contractors.

In addition, Minister Senaratne said with a view to uplift the construction sector the Government has reduced the withholding tax on construction contracts from five per cent to one per cent to improve the cash flow of the builders.

The Government has granted tax exemptions on profits for local contractors outside Sri Lanka.

Minister Senaratne said his Ministry is in the process of streamlining and strengthening the construction industry.

The Cabinet has granted approval to a Cabinet paper presented by the Ministry to establish a National Advisory Council for the Construction Industry.

In addition, the Minister said that the Government has already agreed to assign the NCASL to construct 100,000 houses Colombo and its outskirts.