XN000022-1973-03-28 — Page 26

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Wednesday, March 28, 1973

SUPPLY CATCHING UP WITH DEMAND IN BUILDING INDUSTRY

Supply is beginning to catch up with demand in the building industry,

the Financial Secretary, the Hon. C.P. Haddon-Cave, said today.

Speaking at the resumed Budget Debate in the Legislative Council,

he said the construction industry was now able to pay higher wages, thus

attracting more labour,

He said "the rising cost of labour is also providing an incentive

for greater mechanisation and capital intensive operations."

As a result, he said, investment in buildings had increased steadily.

Mr. Haddon-Cave pointed out that the bottleneck in recent years

had not been so much the availability of land as such, but rather the capacity

of the construction industry to meet all the demands laid upon it, "demands that

is which have risen at an unprecedented pace due to the buoyancy and expansion

of our economy. tt

Referring to the competition for scare land by productive enterprises,

he said this must inevitably be reflected in the price of land to them and in

their costs of production.

"But this ensures that those enterprises which bring the greatest

benefit to the economy are the ones which survive and prosper," he said.

"It also ensures that land is developed to its maximum potential."

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