Construction contracts for Singapore’s built environment sector is expected to reach between $29 billion to $36 billion in 2015, the Building and Construction Authority (BCA) said yesterday.
Public sector projects are expected to account for around 60 percent or $18 billion to $21 billion of the total construction demand, due to an increase in industrial projects and the sustained pipeline of institutional and civil engineering works.
Public housing projects, however, are anticipated to moderate this year as the public housing market has stabilised.
Meanwhile, as developers remain amid a slowdown in private home sales and global economic uncertainties, private sector construction demand is likely to moderate to between $11 billion to $15 billion compared to $18 billion in 2014.
The slowdown is anticipated to be cushioned by a rise in private sector civil engineering projects such as the proposed infrastructure works for the development of the Changi East Runway 3.
Speaking at the BCA-Real Estate Developers’ Association of Singapore (REDAS) Built Environment & Property Prospects Seminar yesterday, Senior Minister of State Lee Yi Shyan said BCA is now working with the industry on the second Construction Productivity Roadmap.
“One of its key focuses will be workforce training and development. When we introduce new materials, technologies and methods of construction, we will need to make sure that our workers are trained for them, know what to do onsite, do their best and achieve the high quality of finished work. We also need to de-bottleneck supply capacities associated with the greater adoption of DfMA construction methods,” he said.
The first Construction Productivity Roadmap was launched in 2011, and various initiatives were rolled out such as raising the minimum standards for building designs and adopting labour-saving technologies. Mr Lee revealed, “From 2010 to 2013, site productivity has improved by about 1.2 per cent per year. But we need to ride on the momentum we have created and do more.”
Photo by Muneerah Bee
Muneerah Bee, Senior Journalist at PropertyGuru, wrote this story. To contact her about this or other stories email muneerah@propertyguru.com.sg
