Quantity surveyors remitted over Rs. 8.4 billion last year

by Shirajiv Sirimane

Sri Lankan quantity surveyors working overseas remitted over Rs.8.4 billion to the country last year. This is the highest amount of foreign remittances made by one particular Sri Lankan professional expatriates group to the country.

Prof. Chitra Weddikkara

President, Institute of Quantity Surveyors Sri Lanka, Prof. Chitra Weddikkara said that there are over 1,000 Sri Lanka quantity surveyors working in the Gulf region and they earn around two to three million rupees a month. “Sri Lankan quantity surveyors are also employed in

Singapore and they have even higher returns,” she said.

Weddikkara added that in countries such as Australia, Libya and Tunisia,

Sri Lankan quantity surveyors are in big demand. “Sri Lankans are

highly, respected and the country can be proud of this fact.”

She said that though the remittances put together by housemaids is higher, they do not reinvest in Sri Lanka.

“In contrast, quantity surveyors have reinvested their money in the stock market, real estate sector, tourism and in industries as well”, she said.

She said that Sri Lanka will host the Pacific Association of Quantity Surveyors annual global conference from July 25 to 27 in Colombo.

The board meeting will be held on July 22 at the Cinnamon Grand Hotel.

This year members from 14 countries - Australia, Canada, Japan, Myanmar, Hong Kong, China, Thailand, Malaysia, Singapore, Brunei, Sri Lanka and South Africa would attend the event.

Prof. Weddikkara said that selecting Sri Lanka to host this prestigious event is a rare honour bestowed on Sri Lanka.

“Sri Lanka is a new member of the Association and was conferred full member status only two years ago.” She said when the committee decided to award the hosting of the event to Sri Lanka, the battle against terrorism was raging. “We are all thankful for the trust they had in Sri Lanka to award the hosting of an event of this magnitude.”

She said that with the prices of commodities rising around the world, they decided on a fitting theme for this year’s conference. “How to manage costs would be one of the prime concerns of this year’s conference”, she said.

“In addition, natural disasters are being reported from all over the world. We will also discuss how the world could come out of this situation, she said.

The conference would also focus on new low energy sources and how they could be further developed. “Knowledge transfer among member countries and sharing each other’s experiences too would be among the priorities in the agenda,” she said. This includes research and development.

She said in a bid to woo more regional countries to the Association, India and Pakistan have been invited to attend the event as observers. The event would also be an educational and networking platform for young and aspiring quantity surveyors as they could gain knowledge in the field they want to surge ahead in. “The best student’s essay too would be selected,” she said.

The President said the event would also bring over 200 members and their families to Sri Lanka for almost one week which would give a boost to the country.

“In terms of tourism, this would generate revenue and publicity to the nation as they are scheduled to travel all over the country and stay for nearly a week. The Association, in a bid to equally distribute the benefits from the event to the local hotel sector, has accommodated guests in all the five star hotels in the City.” Prof Weddikkara said. A golf tournament too would be conducted at the Royal Colombo Golf Club during the event.