Up to $34b in construction contracts to be awarded this year, says BCA

But demand from the private sector is slowing.

The Building and Construction Authority (BCA) expects that $27b to $34b of construction projects will be awarded this year, compared to a total of $27.5b worth of contracts awarded last year.

The public sector will account for 65% of demand, the BCA said. This marks the highest proportion of public sector demand since 2002. In contrast, public sector projects accounted for roughly half of construction demand in 2015.

Total construction demand in 2015 fell short of the agency's $29b to $36b estimate. This was mainly on back of the rescheduling of certain major public infrastructure contracts, such as MRT projects which were pushed back from the fourth quarter of 2015 to early this year.

BCA expects private sector building demand to slow this year due to slowing economic growth and the higher supply of office and residential space.

BCA expects the total construction output this year to moderate to between $32b and $34b, compared to about $35b in 2015.