Prospect 2018

A 9.5% growth expected this year

The construction and real estate industry are riding high. A good display boosted by the multiple public infrastructure construction works and an increasing demand for premium properties on the Indian Ocean Island. In fact, after a couple of moribund years, both sectors seem to have recovered as a growth of 7.5% has been registered in 2017. The Construction Industry Development Board (CIDB) predicts that this figure might reach 9.5% at the end of this year. This is regarded as a realistic objective given that the investments in the construction and real estate industries have registered in 2017 a growth of 6.8% as regards to only 1.5% in 2016.

This expected growth will also have a positive impact on employment in the construction sector. This constitutes a good news for the major economic operators as the employment rate, went from 47 900 in 2011 to 39 600 in 2016. The construction companies will likely hire an important number of people in the coming months, as the major building sites will start to operate.

The industry observers however concede that reaching the expected growth of 9.5% in 2017 will largely depend on the capacity to start and finish the building works on time. As regards to this issue, the CIDB has enjoined the Mauritian government to take all the necessary measures to ensure get rid of any obstacles to the business facilitation policy in the construction industry. The message has been acknowledged by Mauritian officials who have ensured that everything would be done to enable the construction and real estate industries to progress even further in the coming years.