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Infrastructure systems play a dominant role in the economic growth of countries. Projects involved with the construction of roads, which is vital for the development of a country, are financed mainly using borrowed funds because of the reliability of debt financing. The cost of borrowing is the interest that has to be paid. In Sri Lanka, there is a high tendency for interest rates of bank loans to fluctuate, and this makes the road projects in the country that are funded with borrowed money to be highly risky. Thus, this paper aims to identify the impact of bank loan interest rates on road construction in Sri Lanka.

The study consisted of two questionnaire surveys conducted among financial specialists and road construction experts, followed by a documentary review. The collected data were analysed using Relative Importance Index. The relationship between the interest rates of bank loans and the prices of the resources used in road projects were determined using regression and correlation analyses.

The research revealed a strong, linear relationship between interest rate fluctuations and bitumen, aggregate base course, metal and earth price fluctuations. It also identified the pattern of interest rate fluctuations to help practitioners to predict the pattern of input price variations.

When developing the capital structure of road projects, it is necessary to consider the prices of materials used in the projects when determining the financial risks of debt financing.

Many countries have started to use post-tensioned (PT) concrete because of its sustainability and low cost. However, it is not quite popular in Sri Lanka as the required knowhow and technology are not available within the country. By introducing PT concrete to the country, unwanted costs and time overruns could be eliminated from the construction projects. This paper, therefore, aims to identify the suitability and acceptability of PT concreting for/in Sri Lanka.

An extensive literature review was first carried out to gather knowledge on PT concreting. The four case studies that followed it included eight semi-structured interviews and a document review. Ten expert interviews were conducted finally to strengthen the findings of the literature review and case studies. Cross-case analysis and NVivo 11 content analysis software were used to analyze the data gathered.

Findings reveal that PT concreting saves cost and time of construction and that it can have a control over the resources required for construction, which makes it environment-friendly. PT concreting allows thinner concrete sections, extended spans, stiffer walls that resist lateral loads and stiffer foundations that resist the effects of shrinking and swelling soils.

It is found that PT concreting is more suitable for the construction industry in Sri Lanka than traditional concreting.