July 19, 2007 (LBO) – Sri Lanka's construction industry is looking for foreign partners to set up a machinery leasing company that would be especially useful for the large number of small and medium firms that dominate the sector. "The CCI is looking at having machinery and equipment to service the needs not only of large contactors but also the large number of SMEs who dominate the construction industry," he said. "SMEs can ill afford to make capital investment on machinery." A machinery leasing company, such as those available in other countries experiencing a construction boom, would help contractors, especially smaller players, meet their requirements without heavy capital expenditure.
"Big companies can buy high value capital equipment and plant but small and medium enterprises (SMEs) cannot afford to," explained Dakshitha Thalgodapitiya, Secretary General of the Chamber of Construction Industries (CCI).
"So we need to set up a machinery leasing company as a public-private partnership so the SME sector can get their requirements as they cannot afford heavy capital spending."
The industry is trying to identify foreign leasing firms which have the expertise and capacity to come and set up in Sri Lanka a leasing fir
