‘Lanka on threshold of boom’
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Surath Wickramasinghe, President CCI with ACS Jayapaul, Senior
Country Director (South Asian and Middle East), Building and
Construction Authority - Singapore and Goh Wee Hong Senior
Country Director,South Asia and Middle East, after the seminar.
Picture by Sumanachandra Ariyawansa
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Sri Lanka is now on the threshold of a boom and enjoys an ideal
climate for the development not only in the commercial hub Colombo but
also in the North the East and other parts of Sri Lanka where there is a
huge amount of infrastructure and other connected development to be
undertaken, said Chamber of Construction Industry (CCI) Chairman Surath
Wickramasinghe at a seminar at Cinnamon Grand recently.
“For the local construction industry, the biggest constraint is the
high cost of finance. The interest rates have recently gone up to
between 18 to 24 percent. Since around 75 percent of the building
materials including machinery and equipment have to be imported, the
recent devaluation of the rupee has also contributed towards the pace of
activity slowing down,” he said.
“However, the local construction industry, particularly the major and
specialist contractors are almost at capacity level engaged in a variety
of projects, which include infrastructure and other building
construction projects. The consultants are not as busy, but are hopeful
that foreign direct investment for joint venture projects will increase
due to the excellent situation prevailing in the country to maximize
their involvement. On the other hand, the product manufacturers and
suppliers of building materials are enjoying the prevailing buoyancy in
the market due to many hotel projects being constructed in different
parts of the country.
"The Sri Lanka construction industry welcomes foreign developers,
investors, product manufacturers and suppliers to get involved in joint
ventures with the Sri Lankan counterpart. The returns on the investment
are viable bringing comfortable returns to the investor, developer and
entrepreneurs.
“We have several projects on offer, large, medium and small scale
projects. These projects are both public and private sector initiated,”
he said. In the areas of tourism, the Shangri-La Hotel and Moven Pic
have already commenced the pre-construction process. Sheraton, Six
Senses, Marriott, Hyatt and Raffles are under negotiations. Several
other hotels are under construction in different parts of Sri Lanka.
(CA) |
