Philconstruct 2001 fora to look at world business prospects

The building and construction industries look forward to sectoral sharing and fora at the forthcoming Philconstruct 2001 to plot pro-active modes of conducing business in the face of current global developments.

The Philippine Construction Association said that Philconstruct 2001 forums will review strides by the construction industry while taking stock of foreseen challenges as a result of world conflicts.

The industry witnessed a 1.6 percent growth in construction demand during the first half of this year compared to the same period last year which posted a decline of 4.5 percent, according to the Construction Industry Authority of the Philippines.

The same agency reported that the GVA (gross value added) or the difference between the value of goods produced and the cost of materials and supplies used in producing them rose by 1.3 percent during the first half of this year compared to that of last year which saw a decline of 6.7 percent in construction activities.

The PCA said that Philconstruct 2001 is Southeast Asia’s most comprehensive and interactive building and construction trade show. As such, it will equip exhibitors and participants a front seat in market intelligence.

Philconstruct 2001 will be held at the World Trade Center Metro Manila on Nov. 15 to 18.

This year’s event will see the participation of over 400 from at least 30 nations. To date, it has the confirmed support from Malaysia thru MATRADE (Malaysia external Trade Development Corp.), US Commercial Service, US Embassy, AUSTRADE through the Australian Embassy, Embassies of Japan, France, Indonesia, India, Great Britain, Singapore, the Czech Republic, the Italian Trade Commission, Royal Thai Embassy and Finland Trade Center.

PHILCONSTRUCT 2001 will bring together leading supplies and manufacturers of construction materials, products and services. It shall provide networking opportunities with over 40,000 industry professionals including architects and engineers, buyers and investors, property owners and developers, building administrators, information technologies, interior designers, business and government group representatives, contractors and major corporate users.

PCA encourages industry practitioners to know more about the networking and marketing opportunities of PHILCONSTRUCT thru Convex International at tel. Nos. 726-8664 to 65; 7264128-30, fax no. 7244578, email: [email protected], or visit their website: www.convex-ph.com.

The construction demand for the first semester, according to the CIAD, is "attributed to a 4.3 percent increase in public construction as a release of government funds for capital expenditures and increases in investments for Build-Operate-Transfer (BOT) projects, particularly the NAIA Terminal 3."

However, it showed that private construction activities declined at a rate of 0.8 percent compared to the 6.2 rise recorded in the same period last year.

The same report said that the construction industry’s share to overall capital investments (gross capital formation) stood at 45.7 percent as of the first semester of 2001.