The Straits Times reported, 22 August 2013, that Singapore is looking to Sri Lanka and the Philippines as regular sources of construction workers. “The first 20 Sri Lankan construction workers who were trained at a Building and Construction Authority (BCA) approved training centre in Colombo will arrive in Singapore next Friday, bringing some relief to the tight labour market,” the report by Amelia Tan says. The training centre in Colombo is run by Fonda Global Engineering
“By the end of year, 200 workers from Sri Lanka will arrive here each month.”
Traditionally, construction workers come from China, India and Bangladesh, but the first two sources are drying up as their home economies are doing well.
“About 200 Filipino construction workers are slated to arrive by June 2014,” reported the Straits Times in the same article. The reason why these two countries are the designated new sources is because they had supplied construction workers to the Middle East for years, but the property boom there is now tapering off.
The Straits Times story included this photo:
