Information from the Statistics and Census Service (DSEC) indicated that the principal indicators of the Construction Sector reversed the rapid development in the past years to register year-on-year decline in 2008, except Gross Value Added, which was attributable to the effect of the financial tsunami and suspension of the construction of some major tourism and gaming facilities. In 2008, a total of 1,510 establishments were operating in the Construction Sector, down by 111 over 2007, with the number of persons engaged decreasing by 3.3% to 26,241. Total Value of Construction Work amounted to MOP52.63 billion, down by 3.9% year-on-year; Intermediate Consumption, including construction materials, went down by 4.9% to MOP41.68 billion. Moreover, Gross Value Added that measures the sectoral contribution to the economy totalled MOP11.56 billion, up slightly by 1.2%. There were 1,088 construction projects carried out in 2008 and 515 were those of the private sector, with the respective total value falling by 1.0% year-on-year to MOP49.92 billion, of which the value of construction of major tourism and gaming facilities and hotels shared MOP42.56 billion (85.3% of total value of private construction work), down by 2.4% over 2007. Value of construction of private residential work registered an increase of 21.2%, at MOP5.23 billion. The government sector took up 573 construction projects, with the respective value shrinking by 38.0% year-on-year to MOP2.71 billion, of which construction of infrastructure decreased by 57.6% to MOP1.04 billion; however, construction of public housing rose notably by 2.5 times to MOP328 million. In 2008, a total of 883 construction projects were carried out in the Macao Peninsula, with the value of construction (MOP18.74 billion) accounting for 35.6% of the total. Meanwhile, value of construction of the 30 projects in the CoTai area (MOP31.24 billion) shared 59.4% of the total. Coverage of the Construction Survey included the construction establishments licensed by the Lands, Public Works and Transport Bureau that were engaging in private and public construction work.
