Keep infrastructure spending steady, construction boss urges government

"Hong Kong's construction industry is always in a boom-and-bust cycle," said Thomas Ho On-shing, chief executive of Gammon Construction.

Ho said the government spent HK$170 billion on construction in the years around 1997, mainly on the new airport at Chek Lap Kok, but the expenditure dropped to HK$22 billion in 2008.

Spending has rebounded in recent years, and the government is expected to outlay HK$80 billion this year.

"I hope the government has a strategic plan for infrastructure to avoid big fluctuations in the construction industry. The construction projects should increase gradually in the coming 10 years," he said.

The industry's fluctuating fortunes in the 1990s contributed to the current problems of a labour shortage and an ageing construction workforce, Ho said.

"Since there was a lack of construction work after 1997, everyone was struggling to survive," he said. "No one would spend time to train new workers."

The current worker shortage is serious, Ho said. "There is a shortfall of more than 10,000 workers at new construction projects. And about 10 per cent of our workers are aged 60 or above," he said.