A fully fledged CECB international base office will be opened in Myanmar in the new year to undertake construction contracts and consultancy services with the aim of taking full advantage of the current construction boom in that country, veteran engineer Nihal Rupasinghe, Chairman, CECB revealed in an interview with the Business Times.
Five international base offices spread in Asia, Africa and UK are now in operation. Several small-scale hydro power projects are being carried out by the CECB in East African countries such as Rwanda, Tanzania and Uganda. The Malawi hydro power project has been completed, he said adding that an international division has been set up at the CECB to bid for foreign contracts and it has been quite successful in such endeavours.
Mr. Rupasinghe said the CECB overseas projects have generated Rs. 1.2 billion and plans are underway to reach the Rs. 2 billion target in the near future.
He revealed that the CECB is now focusing on consultancy services in countries like the Maldives, India UK, Kenya, Malawi and Uganda as well as East Africa.
Sri Lanka is also experiencing a considerable 21 per cent growth in the construction industry, but it is high time to venture overseas before the infrastructure boom in the island eases, he said adding that Sri Lankan engineers and skilled workers should continue their occupation here or abroad.
Mr. Ranasinghe pointed out that Sri Lankan professional engineers had faced difficulties in finding jobs after the construction boom during the accelerated Mahaweli Development project period and such situations should not be repeated.
The CECB is teaming up with leading construction companies in the island such as ICC and Maga to undertake foreign construction contracts.
The aim is to provide an opportunity for local engineers as well as in-house human resource pool of well qualified, trained and experienced multidisciplinary engineering expertise of over 600 engineers, 50 architects and 600 para- engineering staff to work in overseas and remit much needed foreign currency to Sri Lanka.
“As a policy, we recruit Sri Lankan labour over foreign labour for assignments abroad because they bring dollars to the country.” he added.” The construction work at the Sri Lankan High Commission in London was another landmark project undertaken by the CECB at Rs. 800 million,” he said.
Referring to local projects, he said that 75 per cent of the construction work of buildings for Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) at the Menik Farm was carried out by them, while 90 per cent of the hospitals and school buildings destroyed by the LTTE have now been reconstructed.
The Army, Navy, Air Force and Police camps in the North were built by the CECB while some 75 per cent of the BOI economic zones located in Mirigama, Wathupitiwela, Malwatte and Katunayake have also been constructed by them, he said.
source: Sunday Times
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