- Gulf conflict disrupts key source of road-building material
- Iran accounts for majority of local bitumen imports
Difficulties in sourcing bitumen from the Gulf region as a result of the ongoing conflict involving Iran could disrupt ongoing road projects in Sri Lanka, the construction industry has warned.
Speaking to The Sunday Morning Business, Chamber of Construction Industry (CCI) of Sri Lanka Secretary General and Chief Executive Officer Eng. Col. (Retd) Nissanka N. Wijeratne pointed out that a sizeable chunk of the capital expenditure allocated under the 2026 Budget had been earmarked for road projects.
However, he cautioned that the embattled local construction industry could be hit with another blow owing to the difficulties in sourcing bitumen as a result of the ongoing Gulf crisis.
Wijeratne pointed out that bitumen was the primary raw material input in road construction, with the CCI already receiving complaints from road contractors over difficulties in obtaining bitumen.
“Most of our bitumen comes from the Gulf region. We are now facing a problem [in sourcing bitumen] because of the Iran war. Even though money has been allocated for road projects, where are we going to get the bitumen from?” he questioned.
He noted that since bitumen was a petroleum product, Sri Lanka was heavily dependent on the Gulf region for its bitumen imports, adding that a majority of the bitumen had been sourced from Iran itself.
Wijeratne further stated that while Sri Lanka could look towards Indonesia as a possible alternate market to source its bitumen needs, a sizeable gap had been created in the market due to the non-supply of bitumen from the Gulf.
As a result, he noted, there would be a significant increase in the price of bitumen when sourced from such alternate markets.
The CCI Secretary General pointed out that this could create a further challenge for road contractors when it came to claiming price escalation from the relevant State authorities, which had proved extremely reluctant to approve such legitimate claims.