The lull in the apartment sector will pick up while the construction boom which was evident six years ago will re commence despite the economic downturn from the COVID-19 pandemic, President, Chamber of Construction Industry (CCI) Eng. Maj. Ranjith Gunatilleke said.
In an interview with ‘Daily News Business’ on the sidelines 17th annual Build SL Housing and Construction International Expo launch which will be held from May 14 to 16 2021, at BMICH he said that the current low interest rates have resulted in people moving out of ‘depositing money in fixed deposits’ and other banking products and are looking for new options. “For this segment, buying an apartment is in their top list.”
However due to the C-19 pandemic economic slowdown and the oversupply of apartments in the pre C-19 period era the current apartments that are on sale would be soon sold specially in the mid-market segment. Builders would soon re start construing new apartments and hence this sector will be reactivated. Secondly the ongoing mega infrastructure projects which were put on hold in the last 5 years have already started and payments that were delayed were also paid by the government to construction companies.
“The Government have already approved over 10,000 km of new roads and upgrading of old roads. All the contracts in this area would come to local firms increasing their business.”
In addition, highway extension projects, port and airport and other infrastructure projects help to reactivate the construction sector which was in a very bad state in the past few years. He however said that the construction costs would be very high because of the lack of skilled and unskilled labor. This would be further aggravated due to the fact that construction companies would not be able to ‘import labour’ from overseas due to C-19 health restrictions.
The incorrect methods of sand extracting too are an issue for the construction industry he said. In addition, the high cost of imported building materials too would add to the costs of the construction industry. Asked if the current tourism downturn would have a negative impact on the construction industry he said that tourism is picking up and hoteliers would re-invest sooner or later.
Sri Lanka should seriously look at recommending the extracting of sea sand for the construction industry Secretary General, Chief Executive Officer. Chamber of Construction Industry, Eng. Col. Nissanka N. Wijeratne said.
He said that the total sand requirement for Sri Lanka is 23 million cubic meters per annum. Out of this around 9 million could be extracted sustainably from river beds. In addition around 4 million cubic meters of sand is extracted from cursing rock. “This avenue can be increased but due to environment constraints it is not possible.”
Another one million is currently extracted from sea mainly sourced from Muthurajawela. The balance is sourced from over dredging river beds which has a negative impact on the environment. He said that while sea sand is cheaper it’s also a myth that sea sand is harmful for construction. I can safely guarantee that construction made using sea sand will last for at least 150 years!”
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