24 September 2014 06:35 am
By Kelum Bandara and Yohan Perera
As many as 100,000 Chinese and Indian nationals work in Sri Lanka’s construction industry as of 2014, and this situation has denied employment opportunities for locals, United National Party (UNP) MP Eran Wickramaratne said in Parliament yesterday.
Mr. Wickramaratne made these observations during the debate on the Construction Industry Development Bill in the House.
He said there were 25,000 Chinese nationals and 33,000 Indian nationals working in the industry by 2011.
“Today it is as high as 100,000. Yet, local women work as domestic aides in the Middle East. That is the sad part. We need to use as many locals and local materials for proper gains from this industry. We can hire foreign nationals in areas where we do not find local experts,” he said.
He said this bill had not addressed such problems.