8

The Newspaper of the Chamber of Construction Industry, Sri Lanka

AUGUST 2013
BY HANSANI BANDARA
S
ri Lanka, now at a stage of
rapid economic
development, is moving
forward at an impressive rate in
terms of construction. But as always
the case in a booming segment, the
construction industry too, sees a
need for focused regulation.
Regulation is needed to
maximize benefits for local
industries at the face of the current
construction boom, where they are
facing acute competition from
foreign players in the local market
opined Bitumix (Private)
Limited Managing Director Ashoka
Siriwardena in an exclusive
interview with Ceylon FT.
Being the founder of Bitumix (Pvt)
Ltd, Ashoka is also the winner of the
entrepreneur of the year award in
2012, and states that his success is
a result of focused quality,
technology and customer service.
Commenting on the need for
policy measures to aid and abet the
development of the highly lucrative
construction industry with so much
potential, he added that existing
policies need to be moderated in a
regular basis to reflect changes in
trends that are seen in the industry.
Following is an excerpt of the
interview with Ashoka Siriwardena.
Q:
What is your story as a
stakeholder of this
industry?
A: My first job was at the
production division of a local
company and worked there for
almost 14 years where I got
promoted to the senior management
level. Then I worked at another 2
local companies before migrating to
New Zealand. I lived there for four
years and came back to Sri Lanka at
the end of 1999 with the hope of
starting a new Company of my own.
I was looking for ideas and
opportunities and was able to
identify the potential of the road
construction sector. There was only
one company to supply Bitumen
products for Road Construction
projects.
From my childhood I had the
dream of becoming my own boss.
There are always limitations in
implementing those new ideas
generate within you when you work
under someone.
Today, I feel very proud of starting
Bitumix and I am always content
about the fact that I have done
something to the industry and to the
country as a whole. I have created
employment and served many
through our CSR work. It is not
about how much money you make,
but as a Sri Lankan company we
have set some levels of standard
and are always receptive to new
thinking, because of this people who
are newly joining the industry have
to benchmark us. We have
introduced improved products,
earned foreign exchange through
exports and saved by producing
import substitutions.
Q:
Tell us about Bitumix
Private Limited. The
history and about Bitumixs
journey so far
A: At the end of 1999, I came
back to Sri Lanka after four years
long stay in New Zealand with the
hope of starting my own business.
As an entrepreneur I was looking for
ideas and opportunities and saw
that there was a huge potential in
the sector of Bitumen supply to
Road Construction. At that time
there was only one private sector
company to supply Bitumen
products for road construction
projects.
Then in 2000, I made my dream a
reality with the establishment of
Bitumix (Pvt) Ltd. Bitumix implies
the meaning of bitumen mixtures;
the name itself explains what the
company is offering. The first factory
of Bitumix was opened at
Kalagedihena to manufacture
products used in road constructions
and that was later expanded and
developed to manufacture other
bitumen based products used in civil
engineering such as paints,
coatings, fillers and industrial raw
materials. In 2004 we pioneered the
export of Bitumen based products
from Sri Lanka under SAFTA
agreement. Thus was the inception
of Bitumix Exports Pvt Ltd. which
exported Bitumen emulsions to
India.
Today, Bitumix is the leading
producer of bitumen based products
in Sri Lanka. In all the aspects of
production; that is product spectrum,
distribution points, service levels
bitumix holds a leading position.
We have currently based
ourselves in Homagama,
Kalagedihena, Medawachchiya and
Hambanthota with factories in these
areas.
Q:
What makes Bitumix stand
out from the rest?
A: One main point is that we are
innovative in what we do. We
encourage everybody to think out of
the box. That is what the culture of
our company is based on. Whatever
we do, our staff always tries to come
out with their innovative ideas.
Also, we always stick to basics. If
we promise a customer that we will
deliver a quotation within half an
hour, we prioritize the request and
deliver it on time. We always deliver
what we promise and this culture
has provided us with significant
returns. As a company, we focus in
managing three main areas; Quality,
Technology and Customer Service.
We are ISO certified manufacturer in
bitumen production. We have an in-
house quality control team and well
equipped laboratory to ensure our
products meet the certified quality
standards. We have a Technical
Task Team comprising qualified
personnel. Our customer complaint
handling is very strong.
There is a permanent technical
consultant who is continuously
advises us on improvements that
should be made. We gain improved
knowledge on technology by associ-
ating Universities, professional
associations and attending to inter-
national conferences on new tech-
nology.
We have earned a name for on
time delivery and serving customer
orders very efficiently. We under-
stand the needs of construction site
and their work culture. We offer 24
hrs and 365 days work and strongly
live up to our offer. We have a sys-
tem to monitor on time delivery.
We value extending our assis-
tance to improve technical knowl-
edge of our needy technical staff of
our business stake holders. We pub-
lish a quarterly newsletter named
ZEEBRA on new Bitumen technolo-
gy / improvements and distributed
free of charge. Island-wide customer
education programs are conducted
where technicians and technical
officers are educated through lec-
tures by professionals in the industry
on the effective use of bitumen prod-
ucts.
Q:
You mentioned, the
company is keen on
innovation. What is the product
innovation at Bitumix?
A: We continuously look for new
products to be introduced to the
market. Recently we introduced
Polymer Modified Bitumen to Sri
Lankan Road construction industry
for the first time. This we believe is a
revolutionary step forward because
Polymer Modified Bitumen can bring
number of benefits related to service
life, maintenance cost, safety and
environmental issues. Polymer
Modified Bitumen is a much
improved version of bitumen which
is produced to suit prevailing climatic
and traffic conditions in Sri Lanka.
This product under the brand name
BITUPOL will be used on the
construction projects very soon.
Latest addition to our innovative
product line is Colored Bitumen
under the trade name
COLORPAVE. This too is
introduced first time in Sri Lanka.
Colored Bitumen is used in many
developed countries as a means of
demarcating specially signed areas,
car parks and etc, especially at a
time where the government is keen
on beautifying the cities this Colored
Bitumen can be used in projects of
city beautification. COLORPAVE is
durable and adds a very elegant
look to the surface.
Q:
What do you think is the
current status of the
Construction Industry and what
impact has it had on Bitumix?
A: As far as the road constructions
are concerned, the boom is
continuing. This was started about 6
years back and we are hoping the
same trend will prevail for the next 4
to 5 years. There may be ups and
downs in the market and in the
volume of businesses, but when you
take the overall picture we are
definitely experiencing a healthy
demand. Bitumix is taking the full
advantage of the position to expand
the business with forward, backward
and lateral integrations while giving
an strength to maintain the quality
benchmark and business ethics.
Q:
How do you think the
stakeholders of the
industry can harness this growth
of the Industry towards their
advantage?
A:There are many advantages for
the domestic stakeholders, but the
foreign construction companies
enter the domestic Industry with
their own funds and the government
takes it as an added qualification.
Therefore it appears the authorities
are sometimes bound to give prefer-
ence to these foreign companies
over local companies. That definitely
hampers the benefits that the local
contractors should get in this kind of
a situation, especially when it comes
to post war development. That way
we can see a threat developing. The
government and the Chamber
should do something to regulate this
so that maximum benefits are
reaped by the local stakeholders.
Q:
Do you think the country
has effective policies when
it comes to Construction
Industry?
A: According to the best of my
knowledge there are enough
policies concerning the Industry, but
what should be done updating them
to be in accordance with the current
trend of the Industry. The policies
should be effectively changed to
meet current requirements of the
industry. My observation is that lack
of coordination between government
authorities is a practical difficulty
when it comes to construction
projects.
Contd. on page 9
The mirror effect
Policies need to reflect changes in trends in the
construction industry Bitumix MD Ashoka Siriwardena