Local construction players should be more professional

Construction is a tough industry for sure which has seen much growth during its glory days in the past few years.

But it’s limping now and Sri Lanka’s general situation of socio- economic stress, chronic resource deficiencies, institutional failings and a general inability to deal with the key issues call for a more professional approach in this sector, experts say.

Christopher Joshua, Managing Director Access Engineering PLC (AEL) noted that professionalism plays an important role in arresting problems in a construction project.

Other experts agree. They say that as time, money, technology, equipments, operatives and materials taking centre stage, managing of construction projects and organising the project resources really need ‘ that’ level of professionalism.

"Sri Lanka's construction industry is ' less' professional. For an example the ITC Colombo One Hotel and Residences project initially approached other local investors as they did not want to work with foreigners. But they settled with Access as they saw that professionalism,” Mr. Joshua who was a panelist at the recently concluded Softlogic Investor Forum said.

He also said the Chinese labour is 3 1/2 times more expensive than local labour. "But that labour is more professional and work gets done."

He said over the last several years the construction industry grew faster than the GDP. "The industry outgrew the GDP of the country. However last year this momentum was broken primarily due to the constant stoppages relating to macroeconomic factors.” A culmination of several events starting from October 2018, where the political instability led to a setback on industry developments that were putting the construction sector on the path of recovery and then the Easter

Sunday terror attacks, resulted in a lull period. “But we still have enough work. Last year Access recorded the highest revenue (Rs.32 billion at the group level)," Mr. Joshua added.

"We produce the most competitive asphalt in the country," he said. The company has invested in four asphalt mixing plants, which enable greater control over timely deliveries and the quality. Average total output capacity of these plants is around 4,200 metric tonnes of asphalt concrete. These asphalt mixing plants, which are established at various places of the country, cater to internal requirements as well as external party requirements.