10,000 youth to be trained for construction industry

The Engineering and Construction Ministry has formulated a plan to recruit 10,000 youth from Ampara, Batticaloa and Trincomalee districts within the next two years, the Ministry said yesterday.

Minister Rajitha Senaratne told "The Island" the recruitment plan would aim to train the 10,000 youths on different categories of jobs in the construction industry. Masons, carpenters, brick-makers and plumbers would be required to the development activities set for the East.

The Ministry of Construction and Engineering Services Training Centre (ICTAD) would be entrusted with the task of training the 10,000 youths on the usage of different kinds of machinery in addition to the training given in different section in the construction industry. The ICTAD had already around 350 youths in the construction industry, he said.

He added that construction personnel from the South had been sent to the East as the government could not recruit jobless youths in those districts due to LTTE’s regime. President Mahinda Rajapaksa took some positive measures to develop the East after its liberation and had allocated around Rs. 19 billion to develop the entire East.