Gulf Construction Online

World Digest

Update

01 November 2001

Japan's spending to drop

Japan's construction spending in fiscal 2002 that starts next April is expected to fall below 60 trillion yen ($490 billion) for the first time in 16 years, according to the the Research Institute of Construction and Economy.

Construction spending is expected to fall 8.3 per cent in fiscal 2002 from the previous year to 59,866 billion yen, it said. Cuts in public works projects amid Japan's fiscal constraints are expected to deal a severe blow to construction spending, it said. Orders from the public sector are estimated to fall 15.9 per cent, and those from the private sector are seen to dip 3.3 per cent because of manufacturers' production adjustments, it said. Spending on housing is expected to slip 1.2 per cent.

In fiscal 2001, overall construction spending is estimated to fall 7.2 per cent to 65,265.9 billion yen.

Restructuring project complete

Guangzhou City: South China's Guangzhou City, capital of Guangdong Province, has announced that it has completed a three-year urban restructuring programme.

Starting in 1998, the programme included a total of 75 projects to solve some problems, such as traffic jam and dirty streets.

The municipal government invested more than 60 billion yuan ($7. 5 billion) in the programme.

Urban expressways and an airport highway were built to ease traffic congestion and link the city with convenient access to highly developed neighboring areas.

New sports venues have been completed for the national sports meet which is to begin this year.

Green light for Thai-Malay pipeline

Bangkok: Thai environmental authorities have approved the construction of a controversial gas pipeline from the Gulf of Thailand to Malaysia, an official at Thai state energy firm PTT said.

Prasert Bunsumpun, PTT's senior vice president for its gas business, told Reuters he expected gas flow to begin by late 2003, one year later than initially planned.

"The project has been delayed for a year...and it will take more than a year for construction," he said.

Construction of the 366-km pipeline and a gas separation plant was due to begin early this year, but has been delayed by the wait for environmental approval and local protests in Songkhla Province in southern Thailand, where the line is due to come ashore.

The gas pipeline project worth 20.80 billion baht ($464.9 million) will be operated by Trans-Thai Malaysia Company, a joint venture between Malaysia's state oil company Petronas and PTT. The main section of the pipeline carrying gas from the Joint Development Area in the Gulf of Thailand to the separation plant has a capacity of just over 1 billion cu ft a day.