Construction Industry in Srilanka
The Sri-Lankan Construction Industry in the New Millennium
C WEDDIKKARA Dept. of Management, Construction and Building Science University of Western Sydney, Australia d.weddikkara@uws.edu.au K. DEVAPRIYA Dept. of Building Economics University of Moratuwa, Sri Lanka (Research Scholar, University of Hong Kong)
Abstract
The construction investment in Sri- Lanka has followed the economic changes that took place during the last decade. This resulted in a significant change particularly in the supply side of the construction industry. Projections towards the new millennium reveal that government policies will be the key deterministic factor with its traditional role changing from that of an investor and a regulator to that of a facilitator in construction. While these policies lead to a larger private sector participation in infrastructure and industrial development with increased foreign participation, it has also put the domestic industry under pressure to change due to such developments. As such, the role of the contracting firms together with the project delivery process and project procurement will be subject to change to meet new demand conditions. This new project culture will face many constraints that originate locally from financial, technological and management deficiencies and construction industry development will be necessitated to accommodate new trends in order to be beneficial. Both corporate development and wider industry development will be necessary. This paper reports these new developments against the background of the past performance of the industry and the necessary measures to be taken by the Sri Lankan construction sector to meet those changes. Although the study is primarily confined to Sri Lanka, these findings are also relevant to the construction sectors of other developing countries where similar movements are taking place. Keywords: Demand and supply trends, Government policies, Facilitator, Economic changes, Construction industry
C WEDDIKKARA Dept. of Management, Construction and Building Science University of Western Sydney, Australia d.weddikkara@uws.edu.au K. DEVAPRIYA Dept. of Building Economics University of Moratuwa, Sri Lanka (Research Scholar, University of Hong Kong)
Abstract
The construction investment in Sri- Lanka has followed the economic changes that took place during the last decade. This resulted in a significant change particularly in the supply side of the construction industry. Projections towards the new millennium reveal that government policies will be the key deterministic factor with its traditional role changing from that of an investor and a regulator to that of a facilitator in construction. While these policies lead to a larger private sector participation in infrastructure and industrial development with increased foreign participation, it has also put the domestic industry under pressure to change due to such developments. As such, the role of the contracting firms together with the project delivery process and project procurement will be subject to change to meet new demand conditions. This new project culture will face many constraints that originate locally from financial, technological and management deficiencies and construction industry development will be necessitated to accommodate new trends in order to be beneficial. Both corporate development and wider industry development will be necessary. This paper reports these new developments against the background of the past performance of the industry and the necessary measures to be taken by the Sri Lankan construction sector to meet those changes. Although the study is primarily confined to Sri Lanka, these findings are also relevant to the construction sectors of other developing countries where similar movements are taking place. Keywords: Demand and supply trends, Government policies, Facilitator, Economic changes, Construction industry
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