The industry which was having the highest salary scale increase compared to other sectors is now moving to the grounds. PwC (PricewaterhouseCoopers) said on Tuesday that “The construction industry is performing weak since the recession brought by the 2010 Soccer World Cup.” PwC said this based on its research on the financial status of the top 10 construction companies listed on JSE.
Andries Rossouw, the PwC partner said in one statement that “The 2010 Fifa World Cup also brought a significant financial drop for the industry.” Clients cannot be blamed for the depressed economic margins due to the cost burden.
Adding more he said that “The economic sector was performing rather powerful showing good signs of financial growth in the individual companies.” However the construction industry was repetitive in nature showing a revenue increase of 21 percent to R145.7bn between 2011 and 2012. - said PwC.
Moving a little back between 2009 and 2011 the industry was totally plane, but on the other side the public sector had shown a hike of 11.7% and in 2012 the total expenditure was R202 billion.
Upon this figures PwC said that “This growth scale can be incorrect or false as the new construction work showed an increase of only 3.5% to R137 billion while the plant, machinery and equipment purchased increased by 55% to R38 billion.”
PwC said that “Inspite of passing from hardships since last three years the construction industry has always contributed in the infrastructure development of South Africa. However it included some risks also which could affect the industry - Rossouw added.
Rossouw commented on the higher salary scale in the industry saying that “This clearly states that there is a lack of enough skills and efforts in the construction sector to increase their potential.”
After being listed in one of the seven areas of the SA Revenue Services which will be focused for the next four years, the construction industry is still facing the tax problems.
Inspite of all these factors the future of the industry is totally depended on the government’s infrastructure management and the presidential infrastructure coordinating commission.
