Iran Daily: "Sri Lanka, Feb. 20--Sri Lanka, an exporter of skilled labor to the Middle East, is now facing a severe shortage of workers for its giant post-tsunami reconstruction plan. Sri Lanka needs at least 100,000 workers for building projects as it grapples with the reality that it will need many more for other long-term infrastructure projects.
"There's a severe shortage of skilled labor in the country," said Dakshitha Thalgodapitiya, chief executive officer of the Chamber of Construction Industry. He said the requirements for labor include about 13,000 masons, 2,000 carpenters, 2,500 painters and nearly 54,000 unskilled laborers.
"This requirement is purely for post-tsunami building, largely housing projects. It's apart from the regular ongoing projects and long term infrastructure projects," Thalgodapitiya told AFP.
Sri Lanka needs about 150,000 houses for tsunami survivors across the country compared with the 20,000 new homes constructed annually. Every year Sri Lanka produces about 20,000 skilled laborers, many of whom leave for greener pastures in Persian Gulf states. About a million Sri Lankans are employed in the Persian Gulf and send home about a billion dollars annually.
"Given the current situation, the country has no capacity to execute the nearly $1.5 billion reconstruction program," Thalgodapitiya said. But he said the situation was not all gloom and doom.
Industry players say the government has launched a massive training program to churn out new professionals and deploy them as soon as possible. "What we need is a micro-enterprise approach, which means making working capital available to artisans from the tsunami affected areas and asking them to build a team of laborers," Thalgodapitiya said. "In a span of four to five months we can generate the required number, provided we adopt out-of-the-box thinking approach, otherwise it is tough to execute such a reconstruction program." Experts say the laborers have to be highly skilled given the post-tsunami requirements.
Apart from the manpower shortage, Sri Lanka is also facing a crunch of building materials such as cement, sand and steel. Sri Lanka produces 3.2 million tons of cement annually and it will need 20 percent more every year for the next few years to meet the reconstruction needs. "We can import cement in bulk or in bags directly from countries like India or Malaysia and meet the need," said Thalgodapitiya."
"There's a severe shortage of skilled labor in the country," said Dakshitha Thalgodapitiya, chief executive officer of the Chamber of Construction Industry. He said the requirements for labor include about 13,000 masons, 2,000 carpenters, 2,500 painters and nearly 54,000 unskilled laborers.
"This requirement is purely for post-tsunami building, largely housing projects. It's apart from the regular ongoing projects and long term infrastructure projects," Thalgodapitiya told AFP.
Sri Lanka needs about 150,000 houses for tsunami survivors across the country compared with the 20,000 new homes constructed annually. Every year Sri Lanka produces about 20,000 skilled laborers, many of whom leave for greener pastures in Persian Gulf states. About a million Sri Lankans are employed in the Persian Gulf and send home about a billion dollars annually.
"Given the current situation, the country has no capacity to execute the nearly $1.5 billion reconstruction program," Thalgodapitiya said. But he said the situation was not all gloom and doom.
Industry players say the government has launched a massive training program to churn out new professionals and deploy them as soon as possible. "What we need is a micro-enterprise approach, which means making working capital available to artisans from the tsunami affected areas and asking them to build a team of laborers," Thalgodapitiya said. "In a span of four to five months we can generate the required number, provided we adopt out-of-the-box thinking approach, otherwise it is tough to execute such a reconstruction program." Experts say the laborers have to be highly skilled given the post-tsunami requirements.
Apart from the manpower shortage, Sri Lanka is also facing a crunch of building materials such as cement, sand and steel. Sri Lanka produces 3.2 million tons of cement annually and it will need 20 percent more every year for the next few years to meet the reconstruction needs. "We can import cement in bulk or in bags directly from countries like India or Malaysia and meet the need," said Thalgodapitiya."
