• Focus on practitioner services specialisation for foreign markets 
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The Housing Ministry, detailing current Government initiatives aimed at evolving the construction industry and promoting practitioner specialisation to produce services in the said industry for the foreign market, called on the private sector to propose suggestions for the further growth of the construction sector.

Speaking to The Daily Morning, the Deputy Housing, Construction and Water Supply Minister T.B. Sarath stated the Government has incorporated necessary modules into new education reforms to help create new specialised labour across various industries. He further said that National Vocational Qualification centres and vocational training centres are producing practitioners specialised in various fields. "Hence, we are already actively creating specialised practitioners for the construction industry, if the private sector has progressive suggestions to evolve the industry, we anticipate having discussions with them to see whether we can inculcate those proposals," he added.

The Ministry's invitation follows comments by the President of the Chamber of the Construction Industry, Vernon Manilal Fernando, who opined that the construction industry must move from 'survival mode' to a 'growth mode'. He  stated the industry must reposition itself as a core driver of the national economy rather than a purely domestic service sector. Fernando said that construction should be recognised not only as a domestic activity but as a potential export earner, with Sri Lankan firms capable of supplying specialised engineering services to regional markets such as the Maldives, East Africa and the Middle East.