Long-term monitoring system needed for construction industry Green Building Council Chairman Jayantha Perera

The construction industry in Sri Lanka is facing an upward trend, but ensuring the trend’s continuance in the long term requires addressing key issues like regulatory compliance, quality control, and climate resilience. 

In an interview with The Sunday Morning Business, Chamber of Construction Industry of Sri Lanka (CCI) Immediate Past President and Green Building Council Chairman Architect Jayantha Perera highlighted the need for a long-term plan to establish a monitoring system for building structures and infrastructure projects, as well as the importance of improving ethics, transparency, and accountability within the sector.

Following are excerpts:

What is your assessment of the current operational landscape for the construction industry?

The construction industry was severely impacted following the Covid-19 pandemic, the Easter Sunday attacks, and the subsequent financial crisis. Approximately 40% of small-time contractors went bankrupt during this period. Thus, significant efforts were made towards recovery. 

Just before the current disaster, the industry was on an upward trend. The Government had made substantial financial allocations in the Budget, especially for roads and related infrastructure. The private sector had also begun to see new investments, with plans for restarting old projects and initiating new ones. 

That was the general situation just before the recent disaster occurred.

Do these floods and landslides expose a deep weakness in Sri Lanka’s physical and regulatory infrastructure?

I would say yes and no. The answer is yes because in some of the areas where collapses occurred, especially buildings and roads, it was found that approvals had been granted improperly or that people had constructed buildings without proper authorisation. This points to a major regulatory issue, specifically a lack of monitoring for unauthorised constructions. 

On the other hand, I say no because this disaster exceeded predictions based on the last 50 years of data. Typically, we adhere to guidelines based on 50-year flood levels, ensuring new construction is safe if built above that line. Since this event was beyond that historical data, one cannot simply attribute it to a failure of existing physical infrastructure, as it was essentially a natural disaster. 

However, the world is experiencing more frequent and severe events like this due to the destruction of the natural environment. To quote Mahatma Gandhi, “The world has enough for everybody’s need, but not for everybody’s greed.” When people go beyond their needs out of greed, nature ultimately responds.

Can you comment on the scale of this infrastructure loss and what Sri Lanka can prioritise when rebuilding?

I do not have the figures yet, but the scale might be massive. My main concern is for private businesses and individual private houses. 

A properly registered private business would likely have its small building insured, offering a safety net. However, very few individual houses are insured. The question is how these homeowners are going to find the money to reconstruct. Even if banks offer low-interest loans, how will they pay them back, especially if they are still servicing an existing loan on the damaged property? In this sector, individual homeowners and small-timers are likely to face a significant issue during recovery. 

Regarding roads, bridges, and other public infrastructure, that is the Government’s responsibility. The Government will secure funds and proceed with reconstruction on a priority basis. 

However, who will look after these private individuals? For example, consider someone who builds a house with all necessary permissions and a Certificate of Conformity (COC), but the house collapses due to a natural event. While it was an act of nature, we must devise a methodology to support these people and help them recover. The financial figures will be huge and the Government will require a strategy to handle this.

In terms of compliance-related issues, especially when it comes to approvals and regulatory concerns, what needs to be prioritised going forward?

I do not wish to place the blame entirely on local authorities, but they often lack the staff  to effectively monitor construction activities. 

In other countries, such as Hong Kong, they have a system whereby an authorised person approves building plans and monitors the structures under their jurisdiction. The owners of those buildings pay a fee to this authorised person, who ensures the buildings are maintained and no unauthorised additions are made. 

In Sri Lanka, we lack a strong post-COC monitoring system by local authorities. A person can receive a COC and then start adding to the structure, which is a major issue. 

Therefore, we need a long-term plan. I am not suggesting restricting building approvals; they must be processed quickly to encourage investment. However, we urgently need a monitoring system. 

Unauthorised structures must be actively monitored, and if found to be illegal, court orders should be obtained to demolish them. Furthermore, authorised structures must also be monitored for unauthorised additions. 

For instance, if a five-storey building is approved and receives a COC, yet the owner adds three more floors in the absence of monitoring, the foundation of the building, which was not designed for eight storeys, could fail, leading to a collapse of the structure. 

In order to minimise damage, since natural disasters cannot be avoided entirely, we must establish a long-term system for monitoring all construction and infrastructure projects, including checking for structural issues like cracks.

What more can Sri Lanka do to invest in climate-resilient infrastructure and technology?

The principles for climate-resilient infrastructure are available, but unfortunately, very few investors or developers adhere to them. 

Simple principles, such as considering the building’s orientation, are often ignored. If a building is not properly oriented, it can overheat, needing additional air conditioning and energy use, which is not climate-resilient. 

Other issues involve location. For construction on sloping sites or next to rivers or lakes, buildings must adhere to relevant regulations. This is the essence of climate resiliency, but many aspects are being overlooked.

Are we integrating sustainable standards adequately in Sri Lanka?

We are certainly trying our best to integrate sustainable standards. However, implementing sustainability usually requires spending a little extra upfront, and many people fail to realise that the return on that investment is far superior and can be realised in a very short time. 

A common trend in construction is to do the minimum and spend the minimum. To address this, most university engineering and architecture programmes have introduced a compulsory module on sustainability, which is a positive step. 

We need to clearly focus on and highlight the benefits of sustainable construction, not just to owners and developers but also to the community and the environment.

What can you say about the upcoming construction policy as well as the transitions required?

The policy is a positive move. Meanwhile, one of the industry’s major failings is a lack of ethics. While some professionals maintain high ethical standards to keep their membership in professional bodies, the industry as a whole suffers from a lack of ethical conduct. 

A simple example is the tender process, mainly in the State sector but sometimes in the private sector too, where authorities award contracts to the lowest bidder without considering established conditions, such as not considering bids more than 5% below the engineer’s estimate. They sometimes consider bids 10% or 15% lower. 

When this happens, the contractor, bound by contract conditions, is forced to cut costs in ways that compromise quality, often without proper monitoring. This is an ethical issue that contractors should not engage in. This leads to destructive competition, whereas we should be promoting constructive competition. These are the types of issues that continue to impact the industry.

Regulatory mechanisms are largely in place, yet the main issue is that they are not being adhered to properly. Transparency and accountability are lacking. There is a tendency to pass the buck when things go wrong. There should be specific regulations to put a stop to this.

On talent migration and human resource concerns in the sector, do we see an upcoming change in this pattern in the next couple of years?

If the industry improves and can sustain these professionals, they will choose to stay. Look at India, where professionals who left are now returning because the country is seeing a massive influx of Japanese, Korean, and European manufacturing. They can stay at home and earn a comparable salary. That is the long-term goal we need to work towards.

In Sri Lanka, I do not think worker safety is a major issue at present. Workers are generally knowledgeable about safety and they demand it. There are very few accidents on most projects I am familiar with. While we are continuously maintaining and monitoring safety, it is not a major problem. However, there is always the risk that a contractor or owner will be blamed if an accident occurs.

In terms of building codes and regulatory frameworks, what key modifications do you believe are necessary?

I believe we need some changes. While some necessary provisions are in the system, they have not been fully incorporated into the regulatory framework. Given the increased frequency of disasters like the recent one, we need to revisit and closely examine our current systems in order to adjust or advance our regulatory and code standards.

What can Sri Lanka do moving forward in the construction sector to attract more investments?

When someone invests, it is in order to get a return. Therefore, any investment must guarantee a proper return and investors in a project or industry must be assured of profitability. 

At present, that assurance is not being maintained properly. Especially, the approval processes are needlessly prolonged when, with new technology, these can be made fast, accurate, and foolproof.

Source: The morning