Total value of work declines by $5.7m in December

A DECREASE of $5.7 million was recorded in the total estimated value of work put in place for the December quarter of 2020 when compared with that of the September quarter of the same year.

Construction statistics released by the Fiji Bureau of Statistics show that the value of work put in place for the December quarter of 2020 was $114.2m which when compared with the December quarter of 2019, was a decrease of $49.7m or 30.3 per cent.

According to the bureau from the total estimated value of $114.2m, for work done in the December quarter of 2020 62.4 per cent was in the private sector.

A breakdown of figures by the bureau showed that total value of work done attributed to the private sector dropped by 14.2 per cent or $11.8m when compared with the September quarter 2020 and by 34.6 per cent or $37.7m when compared with the December quarter for 2019 respectively.

Meanwhile from the total estimated value of $114.2m, for work done in the December quarter of 2020 37.6 per cent was in the general government.

It was noted that total value of work done for general government was up by 16.5 per cent or $6.1m when compared with the September quarter of 2020 but down by 21.7 per cent or $11.9m when compared with the December quarter for 2019.

New buildings and capital repairs accounted for 51.6 per cent of the total value of work done in December whereby total value of new buildings and capital repairs decreased by 8.9 per cent or $5.8m when compared with the September quarter of 2020 and 32.1 per cent or $27.9m when compared with the December quarter of 2019 respectively.

Current repairs and maintenance accounted for 8.5 per cent of the total with the bureau recording a decline by 11.9 per cent or $1.3m compared with the September quarter of 2020 and 27.1 per cent or $3.6m when compared with the December quarter of 2019 respectively.

Of the total value of work put in place the civil engineering works accounted for 39.9 per cent whereby the total value of civil engineering works was up by 3.1 per cent or $1.4m compared with the September quarter of 2020 but declined by 28.5 per cent ($18.2m) when compared with the December quarter of 2019.