Bamini wants more work for Jaffna contractors

Indunil HEWAGE in Jaffna

The end of the 30-year long war has opened new vistas for the Sri Lankan construction industry and the local building contractors in the Jaffna district as a whole with the ongoing rehabilitation process and booming tourism industry activities.

Bamini Engineers and Contractors in Jaffna, which is a leading building construction company with 36 years of history is successfully engaged in constructing government buildings in the Jaffna peninsula.

This company was founded in 1975 in Kondavil, Jaffna and it is the leading buildings construction company in Jaffna. My main aspirations is to do a sincere work for my clients and not to earn much profits by constructing substandard buildings. Bamini Contractors has built 115 government buildings in the Jaffna area so far and the company has the manpower, resources and ability to construct any sophisticated government building in the country, however our operation is confined to Jaffna area at the moment, Bamini Engineers and Contractors Managing Director and President of Jaffna Northern Province Building Contractors Union J.E. Balasundram said.

The construction of Jaffna Labour Department and the Jaffna Secretariat has been undertaken by Bamini Contractors at present. The company success is left in the hands of their highly-capable, impeccably trained staff. Day-to-day activities of Bamini Engineers and Contractors runs by these 75 people.

Balasundram has understood his priorities and implemented a right system to train associates and that has greatly assisted him to make more money and get good contracts.

He considers it the greatest return the company can reap in the future.

The Bamini Contractors has made a mark in the local construction industry and their sincere service for the Jaffna area has been recognized on many occasions in the country. Balasundram managed to win the gold award in the construction industry category at the recently held Ceylon National Chamber of Industries (CNCI) Achiever Awards 2011.

Commenting on the local construction industry Balasundram says there are 102 building contractors in the Northern Province. It is vital to enforce new laws and regulations to address loopholes in the local construction industry and need to formulate compulsory rules for contractors to declare a guarantee period for whatever building structure they build in the country.

In addition, the stiff competition in the industry has stalled our progress to some extent and we are unable to compete with major building contractors in the Colombo area when we are bidding for any government related project taking place in the Jaffna area. "It is time to eliminate political favourations Colombo contactors are receiving. I am requesting from the government to let us get the building contracts pertaining to the future projects in the Jaffna area since we know the people here and are committed do a sincere work for our people," he said.