Disruption to bitumen imports from the Gulf could stall ongoing road development projects in Sri Lanka, the local construction sector has warned.
Eng. Col. (Rtd) Nissanka N. Wijeratne, Secretary General and Chief Executive Officer of the Chamber of Construction Industry Sri Lanka (CCI), said a significant share of the capital expenditure allocated in the 2026 budget was set aside for road projects — but that the material needed to build them is now hard to obtain.
“Most of the bitumen needed comes from the Gulf region. Due to the Iranian war situation, a major problem is now faced in importing bitumen,” he said. “Even though money was allocated for road projects, where will bitumen come from?”
Wijeratne was speaking to a weekend English newspaper. Hiru News, which carried the remarks, did not name the publication.
Alternatives cost more
Bitumen is the main raw material in road construction and is a petroleum derivative, leaving Sri Lanka heavily dependent on Gulf supply. Wijeratne said most of it is obtained from Iran itself.
Sri Lanka could look to alternative markets such as Indonesia, he said, but the disruption to Gulf supply has created a large shortage in the market — meaning imports from those alternatives would carry high costs.
Road contractors are already reporting difficulties in procuring the material, he added, warning that an already troubled construction sector could face severe impacts again.
A shortage that predates this warning
The problem is not new. In June, the Road Development Authority said it had been unable to import road-construction tar since February because of the Middle East conflict, and had opened diplomatic-level talks with Malaysia, Thailand, India, Oman and Russia to find alternative suppliers. At that point the RDA said Sri Lanka sourced 100 per cent of its road tar from Dubai, against a monthly requirement of 20,000 metric tons, and that the main obstacle was that product from other countries did not meet Sri Lanka’s technical specifications — as reported at the time.
That earlier account named Dubai as the source; Wijeratne points to Iran. The two are not necessarily in conflict, since Gulf trading hubs re-export regional product, but no outlet has reconciled them.
