XN000022-1986-08-14 — Page 12

THURSDAY, AUGUST 14, 1986

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FIRST QUARTER CONSTRUCTION OUTPUT STATISTICS RELEASED

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THE TOTAL GROSS VALUE OF CONSTRUCTION WORK PERFORMED BY ALL CONTRACTORS IN THE FIRST QUARTER OF 1986 AMOUNTED TO $9 323 MILLION, WHICH WAS 5.9 PER CENT LOWER THAN THE PRECEDING QUARTER AND 0.3 PER CENT LOWER THAN THE SAME QUARTER OF 1985, ACCORDING TO THE RESULTS OF THE QUARTERLY SURVEY OF CONSTRUCTION OUTPUT RELEASED TODAY (THURSDAY) BY THE CENSUS AND STATISTICS DEPARTMENT.

CONSTRUCTION WORK PERFORMED BY MAIN CONTRACTORS (AT CONSTRUCTION SITES, ERECTED BUILDINGS AND STRUCTURES, AND OTHER MINOR WORK LOCATIONS) IN THE FIRST QUARTER OF 1986 AMOUNTED TO $6 153 MILLION. THIS GAVE AN INDEX OF 93.4, WHICH WAS 5.1 PER CENT LOWER.HAN THE PREVIOUS QUARTER AND 1.7 PER CENT LOWER THAN THE SAME QUARTER OF 1985. THE QUARTERLY AVERAGE OF 1982 WAS TAKEN AS 100.

DIFFERENT FROM THE FIGURES ON CONSTRUCTION WORK PERFORMED BY ALL CONTRACTORS, THE FIGURES FOR MAIN CONTRACTORS ARE FREE FROM THE EFFECT OF DOUBLE COUNTING OF CONSTRUCTION VALUE DUE TO THE SUB-CONTRACTING PRACTICE IN THE CONSTRUCTION INDUSTRY.

THE GROSS VALUE OF CONSTRUCTION WORK PERFORMED BY MAIN CONTRACTORS AT CONSTRUCTION SITES IN THE FIRST QUARTER OF 1986 AMOUNTED TO $4 806 MILLION, WHICH WAS 5.1 PER CENT LOWER THAN THE PRECEDING QUARTER AND 0.5 PER CENT LOWER THAN THE SAME QUARTER OF 1985. THE FALL WAS MAINLY ATTRIBUTABLE TO THE DECREASE IN CONSTRUCTION OUTPUT ON BUILDINGS. AS A NUMBER OF LARGE COMMERCIAL BUILDING PROJECTS WERE NEAR COMPLETION IN THE FIRST QUARTER OF 1986.

THE OUTPUT VALUE OF COMMERCIAL BUILDINGS WAS $432 MILLION, REPRESENTING DECREASES OF 38.3 PER CENT IN COMPARISON WITH THE PRECEDING QUARTER AND 37.2 PER CENT WHEN COMPARED WITH THE SAME QUARTER OF 1985.

THE OUTPUT VALUE OF RESIDENTIAL BUILDINGS IN THE FIRST QUARTER OF 1986 WAS $1 724 MILLION. THIS SHOWED A FALL OF 5.3 PER CENT WHEN COMPARED WITH THE PRECEDING QUARTER, BUT AN INCREASE OF 5.1 PER CENT OVER THE SAME QUARTER OF 1985.

THE OUTPUT VALUE OF TRANSPORT FACILITIES WAS $789 MILLION IN THE FIRST QUARTER OF 1986. THIS REPRESENTED AN INCREASE OF 60.0 PER CENT COMPARED WITH THE PRECEDING QUARTER, BUT WAS 8.8 PER CENT LOWER THAN THE SAME QUARTER OF LAST YEAR. THE SIGNIFICANT INCREASE COMPARED WITH THE PRECEDING QUARTER WAS RELATED TO THE CONSTRUCTION WORK PERFORMED ON THE FINAL PHASE OF THE MASS TRANSIT RAILWAY ISLAND LINE PROJECT.

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