Grand Travel

Lima Sept. 18. Peru's construction sector is expected to average 8.7% growth between 2010 and 2013 due to the deficit in transport infrastructure such as roads, bridges, ports and airports, the large housing shortage throughout the country, and anticipated growth in the mining and energy sectors, said US Today.

"As Peru scrambles to make up its shortfall in infrastructure, an element that its strongly unified private sector acknowledges as essential for the country’s further growth, a range of sectors from metal industries to construction are set to benefit from a boom that some industry leaders fear will far outstrip supply", the US daily said.

Growth in the construction sector is estimated at 14.4% this year as industry is planning to build 100,000 new residential units over a three-year period, the Peruvian Chamber of Construction (Capeco) reported recently.

Peru’s construction sector ended 2009 with expansion of 5.2%, fueled by increased domestic consumption of cement, a sector that registered 12.5% growth last year, said USA Today in an article entitled "The boom has just begun" as part of a supplement about Peru.

It added taht public investment in infrastructure also spurred growth last year, and is just a hint of things to come.

"By the end of President Garcia’s term, we’ll have intervened in nearly the totality of the national road network," the Minister of Transportation and Communications, Enrique Cornejo was quoted as saying by the daily.

Consequently, construction is gaining bulk with regards to its contribution to the country’s overall gross domestic product, and is now a driving force in Peru’s economic growth, and this trend is not likely to end anytime soon.

In addition to government financed projects, private investment is a major factor in this growth. It has returned with a vengeance, expected to jump 17.5% this year alone.

The construction boom will obviously have a knock-on effect throughout related industries such as building materials and metal industries, and Peruvian companies in these sectors are gearing up for the increase in activity.

Indeed the entire cement sector is planning investment of over US$1 billion throughout the next three years.

Ricardo Briceño Villena of the National Confederation of Private Business Institutions (Confiep) commented that Peru is going to continue growing at a rate of around 6% driven by the same sectors that have brought about the growth so far: mining, energy, construction, tourism, agroindustry, and fishing.

"These are the sectors that are leading growth and they will continue to do so for some time given the resources we have in mining and energy, plus the fact that tourism, construction, and more recently agro-industry, have been pulling this economy along,” Briceño was quoted as saying.