The Ceylon Institute of Builders (CIoB), a renowned group of engineers and builders of Sri Lanka, had recently pointed out that the China International Contractors Association (CHINCA) has a stake in 40% of construction projects in the country, a media report said. The reports also highlight that the Chinese companies are involved in as much as 40 per cent of the construction projects in Sri Lanka, and The Ceylon Institute of Builders (CIoB) - a trade body had thus moved a Cabinet paper demanding foreign companies engaged in such works should have local partners.

"In the next three years CHINCA wants to increase their stake in the Sri Lankan construction industry to 70 per cent of total projects. This can be detrimental to our local firms," CIoB President Rohan Karunarathna had told reporters at the opening of the seventh construction industry exhibition titled 'Construction Expo 2018' on last Friday.

"We have also moved a cabinet paper that all such projects by foreign firms from any country should have a Sri Lankan partner from now on," Karunarathna told reporters.

He had said that as a result, the Construction Chamber of Sri Lanka has signed a MoU with CHINCA to share all their projects here with Lankan construction firms so that the risk is mitigated.

- Reporting by Devendra Francis