Sri Lanka's construction industry faces a possible labour shortage given the reluctance of youth to join the vocation if a post-war building boom gets underway, an official said.

Rohan Tudawe, of the Tudawe Brothers construction firm, said almost 500,000 people are employed in construction which contributes about 6.5 percent of gross domestic product.

But he said there are few new entrants into the trade with school leavers preferring alternative work.

It was a more migratory type labour with demand being more seasonal and not permanent as in factory work, he told an investment forum organised by the Ceylon Chamber of Commerce.

"What we find is that there are no new entrants - school leavers prefer to go into other jobs like information technology," Tudawe said.

"If there's a construction boom and the construction sector's share of GDP increases to nine percent as happened in a previous boom, then over a million people would be needed," Tudawe said.

"Then we would have a serious labour problem and maybe we'd have to get down labour from abroad.'

Tudawe said youth were reluctant to enter the trade because of the arduous nature of the work, which often had to be done in the open air, exposed to the elements.

"It's not a popular job. It's difficult to attract people."

The construction industry's contribution to GDP hit nine percent during a building boom in 1979-81.

A similar boom is anticipated with the end of the island's 30-year ethnic war in May 2009 which has led to an economic revival.

Several large infrastructure projects are underway or planned and the local housing market is als seen reviving after a recent slump.

Tudawe said remuneration was attractive for skilled craftsmen like masons, carpenters and tillers.

"The real issue is continuity of employment," he said. "The government needs to ensure there is continuity and sustainability."

The industry tends to be cyclical with bouts of feverish construction activity followed by slumps in keeping with economic cycles.

Tudawe also said it was important to get "the procurement system organised" so that so that it is "more domestic industry friendly" instead of work going to foreign contractors especially on foreign donor-funded projects.