The construction industry is now in a stringent situation, the Construction Industry Council (CIC) stated in a press conference on 9 October 2019.
In the 2018/19 financial year, the overall construction output has dropped 8.4 per cent, compared with last year, and only less than half of the planned public works projects were approved by the Legislative Council (LegCo).
Of the HKD140.2 billion public works funding proposals endorsed by the Public Works Subcommittee, only HKD69 billion have been approved by the Finance Committee. Chan Ka-kui, Chairman of the CIC, emphasised that the overall construction expenditure of Hong Kong should maintain at HKD200 to HKD250 billion every year in order to sustain the sector’s stable and healthy development, as well as the livelihoods of the current 144,000 active construction workers.
A number of public works projects awaiting approval are pertinent to the workers’ source of income, such as the redevelopment and expansion works of public hospitals and public housing development, and infrastructure..
Executive Director of the CIC Ir Albert Cheng said that a number of workers in the construction industry are currently facing under-employment. The volume of construction works has become unstable due to delayed project funding, and the continual decrease in construction output is known to have affected their livelihoods.
The CIC hopes that the LegCo can approve the funding proposals for capital works projects in the short term to avoid an increase of unemployment rate, and to maintain the productivity of public works projects and meet livelihood needs. ― Construction+ Online
