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Surath
pleads for a Construction Bank
Laments
21st century approach to development absent in Sri Lanka
 Top
architect and Chamber of Construction Industry (CCI)
President Surath Wickramasinghe has strongly emphasised
the need for a Construction Bank in the country.
His recommendation for such a Bank is to resolve the
inherent and major problem faced by the construction
industry with regard to easy access to finance at competitive
terms.
“Sri Lanka must adopt a 21st Century approach to
development, this is not happening,” Surath said
during his address at the CCI’s Annual General
Meeting held recently.
For example, there is an urgency to transform the City
of Colombo to be more vibrant and competitive with other
cities in Asia like Singapore and Malaysia. In South
Asia, India has already commenced Urban Regeneration
projects virtually in all major cities by infra-structure
improvements to their highways, relocating slums and
shanties and other under served buildings.
The implementation is through Public / Private / Partnerships.
Consequently, environmental upgrading and much needed
prime land is liberated in their cities to achieve the
desired social and economic development goals, Surath
added.
“Our experience, on a Urban Regeneration Project
at Panchikawatte, is that, due to lack of seed capital
say, Rs.1 billion the project cannot commence despite
it being viable and attractive to developers to invest
up to Rs.80 bilion,” he explained.
When implemented, Surath said, the benefits will be
enormous not only by transforming part of the City but
also in the areas of socio economic, infra-structure
and environmental up grading, employment opportunities,
transfer of technology, capacity building of local firms
and several other aspects. It is also possible to package
similar projects for implementation in other parts of
City of Colombo like Pettah, Slave Island, Colpetty,
Borella, Wellawatte etc.
However, Surath appointed out that the major constraint
is finance. Innovative funding mechanisms must be adopted
to attract investment from both foreign and domestic
sources.
“The
creation of a special Bank to provide initial capital
to “kick start” development projects in Infra-Structure,
Urban Renewal and Urban Regeneration is now a pre-requisite
for rapid development of Sri Lanka,” the CCI chief
emphasized.
He revealed that China, South Korea, Singapore and Malaysia
among others have through Development / Construction
Banks funded their Mega Projects and developed their
Construction Industry and their countries. They are
now with their experience and expertise venturing to
fund and develop projects in other countries. We must
follow this example and set up a similar Development
/ Construction Bank initially to provide Seed Capital
to facilitate Mega Projects of National importance.
“This Development / Construction Bank could also
facilitate to promote balanced development in the country
to reduce the disparity between Provinces and enhance
the “Prosperity Index”. Consequently, major
projects that may need initial seed capital could also
be funded if viable through this Bank. The implementation
could be through a Public / Private/ Partnership process,”
Surath said.
“The Construction Industry and Sri Lanka will benefit
hugely and will enjoy a sustainable building boom for
many years,” he added.
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