Contractors requested to capitalise on construction boom in Middle East

by Jayampathy Jayasinghe

[email protected]

A data bank on contractors will be useful to the ministry to utilise the services of contractors when construction work in the Middle East begins, the Minister of Construction and Engineering Services, Dr. Rajitha Senaratne said. Dr. Senaratne, the Chief Quest was speaking at the launch of a Corporate Plan for members of the National Construction Association of Sri Lanka (NCASL) last week.

The minister requested the Chairman National Construction Association of Sri Lanka CASL to set up a data bank to achieve its objective.

He requested Sri Lankan contractors to capitalise on the construction boom taking place in the Middle East. He said arrangements have been made for Sri Lankan Contractors to work in the Middle East and urged the National Construction Association of Sri Lanka to motivate contractors to undertake construction work in the Middle East.

He said domestic construction companies have taken over various mega projects executed by foreign companies earlier partly due to having a strong association. NCASL also helps the government to formulate policies for the betterment of the industry and the economy.

The members of the NCASL were engaged in the reawakening program of the Eastern province and government is in favour of private public partnership for sustainable development. Meanwhile the domestic contractors have provided direct and indirect employment to more than one million persons during 2007.

The construction industry has shown a remarkable growth of 12 per cent during 2007, Certificates of membership were awarded to construction companies affiliated to the NCASL following the signing of a Memorandum Of Understanding (MOU) both by the NCASL and insurance companies.