Construction Industry employment and Covid-19

Overview of the Construction Industry

Sri  Lankan  construction  industry development  has  closely followed  the  economic  developments of the  past  decade.  The  economic conditions  of the day determined the developmental trend in the construction  industry.  The  construction sector has benefited from the recent growth in   infrastructure projects  resulting from the rapid  urban  development policies.  

Within the last eleven year, the country saw an unprecedented development of high-end residential apartments, commercial space, hotels and resorts, and infrastructure; a record growth in the construction sector. Just as the construction industry has benefited the most from the developmental policies, the economy has in turn benefited from the construction industry n terms of employment and finances. With the growth in the construction industry in recent years, its financial and employment contribution to the economy has been large. The contribution by the construction industry to the GDP and employment generation is about 8%. Gross Domestic Capital Formation has contributed about 42%.

Leadership and economic security: The President is an example

Today we are witnessing a new risk experience a global pandemic which one gets to experience in a lifetime. Sri Lanka has experienced many natural and man-made disasters and has successfully recovered most. Therefore, the lessons and experiences gained during the disasters will certainly help them recover from these risks to some extend; however the coronavirus infection which is spreading today is new risk which has affected not only the developing countries, but many developed countries as well.

In this context, the economic and human losses of many countries have been a major challenge globally, and as IMF warns  will be a too larger damage to recover from due to the Corona virus disease 2019 ( COVID_19). Due to the whole of government and whole of the society approach that Sri Lanka too we have been able to successfully contain the disease to a certain extent. The immediate, measure we took is an example for other countries i.e immediate lockdown, initiating quarantine, relief measures to solve the economic problems . As the WHO Chief has alluded, Sri Lanka was one of the first countries to take pro-active steps against the coronavirus, well before it was declared a pandemic by the WHO.  This is an indication of  great leadership of our country in this disaster situation.