The exhibition was inaugurated by the Chief Guest, Prime Minister, Ranil Wickremasinghe on August 24 .Sajith Premadasa, Minister of Housing & Construction and Vajira Abeywardene, Minister of Home Affairs graced the occasion as Guests of Honour.
Ruwan De Silva, the Organizing Committee Chairman of Construct 2018 delivering the welcome address lamented the problems faced by the construction industry as a result of out dated policies and regulations.
While expressing his happiness that there were many large scale development projects being implemented in the country, he pointed out that the local contractors face severe hardships due to some of the out dated rules & regulations and ad-hoc practices adopted by the Government ministries. He pointed out that this is one of the main reasons for the frequent payment delays and cash flow problems faced by the local contractors, consultants and the supply chain in the industry.
He said, “The current procurement procedures and methods and the ‘Conditions of Contract’ currently used in public and private sector are disadvantageous to local contractors, especially when they have to face competition from Chinese companies in Sri Lanka. According to the report issued by Finance ministry, half of the government development projects managed under the line ministries have not even achieved 50% of the quarter one targets. As it is evident from this, the Government is facing challenges in achieving its development targets. We are of the view that apart from labour shortage and low productivity in the industry, rules and regulations and procurement procedures adopted by the ministries are the main causes for this delay in implementing development projects. This problem is further aggravated by delays in decision making and inefficient policy-making.”
He appealed to the Prime Minister and the Minister of Housing & Construction to look into these matters and to seriously address these strategically important concerns for the construction industry and country.The theme of the Construct 2018 exhibition was “Inno-Smart Sri Lanka”. The exhibition itself lived up to its reputation as the largest construction exhibition in the country. It covered an exhibition area of more than 35,000 square feet for over 350 exhibitors and attracted more than 40,000 local and international visitors comprised of manufacturers, service providers, contractors, developers, architects, quantity surveyors, engineers, consultants, buyers and industrial professionals from the construction industry.
The exhibition provided the exhibitors with enormous opportunities to introduce their latest technologies, launch their new products & solutions, network with potential buyers and gain valuable insight in to the Sri Lankan construction market place.Visitors at the exhibition were able to view all aspects in construction and infrastructure development, including even the smallest component to the heavy machinery & equipment and gain substantial knowledge & awareness of the latest technology.
