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| Sunday, 20 November 2005 |
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| News Business Features Editorial
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National policy targets sustainable growth in construction industry by Gamini Warushamana
The new national policy on the construction sector targets a sustainable growth in the local construction industry and outlines various incentives for local industries. The new national policy was approved by the cabinet recently. The objectives of the new national policy are; improve the quality and productivity of the construction industry through integration, enhance the capacity potential, make the sector vibrant, streamline procurement procedures, ensure safety and security of the workers and provide financial facilities to the sector. Under the new policy, incentives and rewards will be given for construction organisations and professionals to adopt technology advancement, quality assurance systems and best practices to improve performance and reliability in service delivery. The policy also stressed the need to encourage participation of domestic organisations through partnership and sub-contracting in donor assisted construction projects which will be executed by foreign consultants and contractors. The objective is to ensure the capacity building of the domestic industry. Under the new policy every organisation which proposes to initiate and implement construction activities should plan such activities in detail. To upgrade quality standards of the inputs, the new policy proposes to introduce regulations to small, medium and large building material producers. The policy also stressed the need to develop a mechanism such as registration schemes for professionals and professional bodies to ensure their quality and timely performances in consultation with the respective professional institutions. The other recommendations are to enhance training facilities to develop skills to meet the national skills standards, regularise the informal sub-contracting practices including labour sub-contracting and introduce a social security benefit system for the construction workers. The responsibility of implementation of the policy is vested with the Ministry in charge of the subject. It also recognises the participation of professional organisations of the sector in preparing the action plan. It is proposed to set up a parliamentary consultative committee to review all construction activities and monitor the extent to which they are consistent with the policy objectives. The Institute of Construction Training And Development will provide guidance and facilities to formulate implementation plans consistent with the national policy framework. A statistical division will be set up with an officer from the Department of Census and Statistics to collect and disseminate all data and information on the construction industry and publish them for the benefit of industry stakeholders. |
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