By Dr. Sarath Obeysekera

A workshop titled “Construction Sector Human Capital Recovery” was held recently at Water’s Edge under the auspices of the National Human Resources Development Council of Sri Lanka. The objective was to discuss the severe labour shortage facing the construction industry and to identify solutions for workforce sustainability.

Many useful ideas were presented.

Some participants suggested that skilled workers should be given more respectable titles. A mason should no longer be called a “Baas” but perhaps a “Brick Engineer.” Others proposed uniforms, name plates, improved welfare facilities, and more dignified places for workers to have their meals.

( like the way English call tree cutter Tree surgeon and pipe bad  plumbing engineer) 

These suggestions are well-intentioned. Workers deserve respect and recognition.

However, none of these proposals address the real problem.

The fundamental issue is that Sri Lanka is trying to sustain a twentieth-century construction industry in a twenty-first-century world.

For decades our construction sector has depended on armies of masons, carpenters, bar benders, and labourers assembling brick-and-concrete buildings using labour-intensive methods. This model worked when labour was abundant and wages were low.

That era is over.

Today, thousands of skilled Sri Lankan workers migrate every year to the Middle East, Europe, Australia, Japan, and other destinations because they can earn several times more than what local employers offer. No uniform, title, or name badge can compete with a salary that is five or ten times higher.

The industry is therefore attempting to treat the symptoms while ignoring the disease.

The Real Solution: Build Differently

Instead of asking how to retain more masons, we should ask whether future buildings should require so many masons in the first place.

Countries such as Singapore, South Korea, China, and many developed economies have dramatically increased productivity through industrialized construction methods. Buildings are increasingly designed around prefabrication, steel structures, modular components, and factory-based manufacturing.

A structural steel frame can be fabricated in a controlled workshop environment and rapidly assembled on site with a much smaller workforce than a conventional reinforced concrete structure.

A modern fabrication yard employing welders, fitters, CNC operators, robotic cutting systems, and quality inspectors can produce structural components for entire buildings with far fewer workers than traditional methods require.

This is where Sri Lanka should be heading.

Welders Create Wealth

The irony is that Sri Lanka already possesses one of the most internationally marketable skills: welding.

Sri Lankan welders are sought after around the world. Instead of exporting these workers permanently, we should build an industrial ecosystem that creates attractive employment opportunities at home.

If the nation invests in steel fabrication plants, modular construction systems, offshore engineering, shipbuilding, marine fabrication, and industrial manufacturing, welders can become part of a high-value domestic industry.

The objective should not be merely to stop migration.

The objective should be to create opportunities so attractive that skilled workers choose to stay.

Universities Must Change

The transformation must begin at the design stage.

Engineering faculties continue to focus heavily on reinforced concrete design while steel construction receives comparatively limited emphasis.

Future engineers should graduate with practical knowledge of:

• Structural steel design
• Modular construction systems
• Fabrication technology
• Welding engineering
• Digital manufacturing
• Building Information Modelling (BIM)
• Industrialized construction methods

The engineer designing tomorrow’s buildings should think like a manufacturer, not merely a site supervisor.

Importing Labour Is a Dangerous Mistake

Perhaps the most alarming proposal now being discussed is the importation of foreign labour.

This is not a solution.

Importing workers may temporarily mask the shortage, but it does not improve productivity. It does not modernize construction. It does not increase competitiveness.

It merely delays the inevitable restructuring of the industry.

History shows that nations prosper when they improve productivity, technology, and innovation—not when they become dependent on imported labour to sustain outdated practices.

Sri Lanka should be exporting high-value products and engineering services, not importing workers to carry bricks.

A National Construction Revolution

The construction industry is facing a defining moment.

We can continue building as we did fifty years ago and struggle endlessly with labour shortages, rising costs, and declining competitiveness.

Or we can embrace steel construction, prefabrication, automation, modern engineering, and industrialized building systems.

The choice is ours.

The future of construction in Sri Lanka will not be determined by what we call a mason.

It will be determined by whether we have the courage to redesign an entire industry for the realities of the twenty-first century.

If we fail to do so, importing labour will become a permanent crutch.

If wwe succeed, Sri Lanka can become a regional centre for advanced construction, fabrication, and engineering excellence.

The solution is not more labour.

The solution is higher productivity.

Regards

Dr Sarath Obeysekera