About 65% of the work will be driven by public sector demand. If the estimates are met, this will be the highest proportion of construction demand from the public sector since 2002.
Last year, the total construction demand was approximately S$27.2bn, with public sector projects accounting for slightly more than half of the demand.
Total construction demand last year fell short of BCA’s earlier estimates of S$29bn to S$36bn, due to the rescheduling of a few major public infrastructure contracts, including MRT schemes moved from the fourth quarter of last year to early this year.
On the other hand, the total progress payments made for the work done in 2015 remained high at about S$35bn due to the strong construction demand in the preceding two years. This contributed to about 4.7% of GDP last year.
Construction demand from the private sector this year is expected to slow down from previous years because of less favourable economic conditions and an increased supply of completed private housing projects and offices. However, this is supported by a higher construction demand from the public sector, largely due to an increase in civil engineering demand.
Key projects this year include a ramp-up in a home improvement programme, construction of a new National Cancer Centre, water reclamation and sewerage projects, work on the three-runway system at Changi Airport and the remaining contracts for the Thomson-East Coast MRT line.
Average construction demand is expected to be sustained between S$26bn and S$35bn in 2017 and 2018, and S$26bn and S$37bn in 2019 and 2020.
Civil engineering construction demand is expected to remain strong beyond 2016 thanks to major infrastructure work including the construction of new MRT lines, the North-South Expressway, associated infrastructure works for Changi Airport Terminal 5 and phase 2 of the Deep Tunnel Sewerage System.
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