Information from the Statistics and Census Service (DSEC) indicated that Receipts, Gross Surplus and other principal indicators of the Construction Sector registered year-on-year decreases in 2018 owing to the successive completion of several large-scale hotels and entertainment facilities. Receipts of the sector declined by 17.2% year-on-year to MOP54.55 billion, of which Receipts from Construction Works Performed (MOP53.31 billion) dropped by 16.7%. Expenditure of the sector totalled MOP50.0 billion, down by 17.5%, with Intermediate Consumption (MOP41.0 billion) and Labour Cost (MOP9.0 billion) falling by 19.0% and 9.8% respectively. Gross Surplus of the sector, which equals receipts less expenditure, went down by 14.2% to MOP4.55 billion. Average Gross Surplus per Establishment amounted to MOP1.36 million, a decrease of 21.7%. Gross Value Added that measures the sectoral contribution to the economy slid by 11.3% to MOP13.55 billion.
A total of 3,355 establishments were operating in the Construction Sector in 2018, an increase of 294 year-on-year. Among them, 1,275 were engaged in construction projects with permits and 2,080 were engaged in simple renovation projects. Total number of persons engaged in the sector decreased by 929 year-on-year to 41,031.
For the establishments engaging in construction projects with permits, their receipts dropped by 18.6% year-on-year to MOP51.11 billion, of which Receipts from Construction Works Performed decreased by 18.1% to MOP49.89 billion. Expenditure of these establishments fell by 18.9% to MOP46.85 billion, with Intermediate Consumption (MOP39.04 billion) and Labour Cost (MOP7.81 billion) reducing by 20.0% and 12.5% respectively. Gross Surplus declined by 15.4% to MOP4.26 billion and Average Gross Surplus per Establishment went down by 16.5% to MOP3.34 million. Gross Value Added slid by 13.5% to MOP12.06 billion.
Based on the number of construction project case files of the government departments of construction works, there were 1,740 files on construction projects with permits being carried out in 2018, an increase of 202 year-on-year. Analysed by type of construction projects, number of private construction projects rose by 129 to 1,095. Receipts from Construction Works Performed fell by 20.1% to MOP39.19 billion due to a 29.3% decrease in receipts from construction of hotels and entertainment facilities (MOP22.35 billion); besides, receipts from construction of new private resident buildings (MOP12.41 billion) recorded a 5.2% drop. Meanwhile, number of public construction projects went up by 73 to 645. Receipts from Construction Works Performed slid by 9.9% year-on-year to MOP10.70 billion, with receipts from construction of public infrastructure (MOP3.09 billion), public housing (MOP1.08 billion) and medical & health projects (MOP883 million) decreasing by 40.9%, 40.3% and 39.2% respectively. On the other hand, receipts from construction of other public facilities (MOP4.01 billion) surged by 114.6%.
Analysed by location, there were 1,286 construction projects with permits being carried out in the Macao Peninsula and Receipts from Construction Works Performed fell by 17.6% year-on-year to MOP13.17 billion. Meanwhile, 130 projects were launched in the Cotai reclamation zone, which mainly consisted of hotel and entertainment facilities, and Receipts from Construction Works Performed amounted to MOP23.03 billion, down by 22.4%. Projects being carried out in Taipa totalled 209 and receipts from these projects edged down by 0.2% to MOP8.59 billion. There were 102 projects being launched in Coloane and receipts from these projects inched up by 0.3% to MOP4.92 billion.
As regards the establishments undertaking simple renovation projects, their receipts increased by 9.6% year-on-year to MOP3.44 billion in 2018, of which Receipts from Construction Works Performed (MOP3.42 billion) saw a 9.3% rise. Expenditure of these establishments amounted to MOP3.15 billion, up by 9.9%; Intermediate Consumption (MOP1.96 billion) and Labour Cost (MOP1.19 billion) registered respective growth of 7.6% and 13.8%. Gross Surplus went up by 7.0% to MOP297 million and Gross Value Added climbed by 12.4% to MOP1.49 billion.
The Construction Sector Survey covers all establishments engaging in construction projects with permits as the main contractor or first-level sub-contractor, as well as establishments engaging in simple renovation projects.