In the third quarter of 2022 the Sri Lanka economy shranked by 11.8% but the construction industry shranked by 33.2%.Normally when the economy shrinks, the construction industry shrinks at a much faster rate. With the data of the third quarter of 2022 the construction industry contracted continuously for five quarters commencing from the 3rd quarter of 2021, Eng. Nissanka N Wijerathna Secretary General, CEO CCI said.
He said this shows that the construction industry has hit the rock-bottom of a deep pit. “ Now in this situation we have to do whatever is possible to encourage those who are engaged in this industry and boost the morale of those stakeholders. In spite of the many obstacles we decided to have this construction expo and we had tremendous support from our sponsors and we have no doubt that the 2023 housing and construction exhibition will be a grand success,” he opined.
The construction industry used to contribute 8-10% to the national GDP but during the last year it came down to 6.1% because of the hard economic times. This industry used to provide employment, direct 650,000 and another 600,000 indirect and in total it would exceed 1.2 million. When considering the households this will count to nearly 20% of Sri Lanka’s population. That shows the importance of the construction industry, he added.
BuildSL 2023 exhibition in May
The 18th BuildSL 2023 exhibition will be held on 26-28 May at the BMICH. Fentons Ltd, Dialog Axiata PLC, Guangdone Kin Long (Pvt)Ltd, Soft Logic Retail Ltd,Ajax Engineering (Pvt) Ltd Lex Duco(Pvt)Ltd,Alumex Group, Rihino Roofing Products Ltd, Advantis Engineering and Insee City Cement (Lanka) Ltd will sponsor the event.