Dr. Smith was speaking at the 150th anniversary celebrations of the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors Sri Lanka held in Colombo. Eminent personalities in the caliber of British High Commissioner to Sri Lanka James Dauris , RICS, Sri Lanka Chairman Sunil Fernando , RICS Sri Lanka past Chairman Russel Cooray , RICS Sri Lanka Past Chairman P.B. Kalugedara , Chief Valuer Pushpa Muthukumarana and Prof. Chithra Wedikkara were present.
The event was held under the theme ‘Unlock the Potential of Our Nation’. In addition to the Past President of the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors UK, a host of other local and foreign guests were present. The ceremony was organized by the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors Sri Lanka and followed by a comprehensive dialogue featuring an interesting line-up of local and international speakers.
Chief Guest Dr Smith further highlighted the invaluable service rendered by Sri Lankan Surveyors and said in addition project managers and planning and development surveyors are also playing a major role to make the RICS as a truly global professional organization.
RICS, Chairman Sunil Fernnado highlighted the current development challenges faced by Sri Lanka and the role of the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors Sri Lanka, particularly in developing more sustainable and productive construction industry related activities through accurate surveying land valuation practices.
Chirman Fernnando also reminded the history of RICS and said it is one of the leading oldest global organizations and over 125,000 professionals are the members of this organization.He said RICS Sri Lanka provided the opportunity to look into the future always, especially to encounter the challenges of the new world.
Chartered Quantity Survey Shehan Boorah said RICS Sri Lanka currently has over 150 members. He said Sri Lankan Real Estate Construction sector showing a steady growth and the RICS currently at the cross road of Sri Lanka’s future.“We have also started Real Estate and construction sector courses in local universities for the benefit of younger generation to become RICS qualified surveyors and to obtain the Royal Chartered status.”
A dialogue on the issues of Surveyors was conducted after the session and it was decided to hold such dialogues every year to discuss debatable topics relating to the industry and also to find proactive solutions to achieve the industry’s development targets