Construction Authority Act in the offing

Ramani Kangaraarachchi

A Construction Authority Act will be passed in Parliament within three months for the benefit of the construction industry.

In addition to helping the on going projects the new act would also help to facilitate the ongoing private public partnerships.

This was revealed by Minister of Construction and Engineering Services, Dr. Rajitha Senaratne, in Colombo yesterday.

Speaking a the launch of the EXCON 2008, Construction Exhibition which will be inaugurated on May 9 at the BMICH he said that the construction industry has progressed very fast in recent times.

"This as a result of creating a separate ministry through joint efforts with Chamber of Construction Industry," he added. The rapid increase of cement and sand prices resulting the construction boom and Sri Lanka has to import 60 percent of its cement requirement.

The government intends to receive US$ 35 in aid and as a soft loan for the offshore sand mining project.

To overcome this situation the government has made arrangements to start a joint venture with an Indian Company known as Birala using the Kankesanturai cement plant. It is expected that cement prices would be brought down to a reasonable price once the KKS factory becomes operational.

Measures have been taken to manufacture artificial sand better than the river sand taken from rivers at a lesser cost according to the minister. The construction industry has recorded a growth of 9 per cent of the GDP in 2007 and it accounts for Rs.141 billion. EXCON exhibition is one of the major achievements, which is focused to enhance the capacity of the industry.

For the first time the government has been able to undertake a project to construct 345 luxury houses in Qatar and signed another agreement in Baharain to construct 15000 houses.

Excon 2008 will have 150 trade stalls providing opportunities for vendors of plant and equipment and other construction inputs, to met there target clientele. It will go on till 11 May 2008.