Construction & Real Estate
From The Report: Trinidad & Tobago 2015
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An important contributor to T&T’s economy, the construction industry accounted for an estimated 5.2% of GDP in 2014 and 15.6% of the labour force, according to T&T’s Central Statistical Office. 2014 was a particularly good year for the sector, which grew by 7.1%, outperforming the wider economy for a second consecutive year. In 2015, the energy-related construction sector is expected to feel the effects of the downturn in oil and gas prices, though public sector building and demand for infrastructure works are likely to remain strong. Meanwhile, in the real estate sector, the political uncertainty arising from the forthcoming election is likely to put a damper on the volume of transactions and have a slight effect on prices, while the supply of affordable housing for low- and middle-income families is expected to remain below pent-up demand through 2015 and 2016. This chapter contains an interview with Roodal Moonilal, Minister of Housing and Urban Development.

Articles from this Chapter

Overview

Civil infrastructure work is expected to be strong into 2015 in Trinidad and Tobago
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An important contributor to Trinidad and Tobago’s economy, the construction industry was estimated to account for 5.2% of GDP in 2014. There are 12 locally based companies with a turnover of TT$25m ($3.85m) or more, 200 firms with turnover in the TT$5m-25m ($771,00-3.85m) range and a larger number of smaller companies below that, many of them operating informally. The sector accounted for 15.6% of the labour force, according to T&T’s Central Statistical Office. The industry can be broken…

Analysis

Trinidad and Tobago’s new procurement law aims to prevent collusion and corruption
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The construction industry, along with other trade groups, has campaigned for years to reform procurement procedures, as a way of combatting corruption, ensuring greater transparency and achieving greater value for money. The long process of political discussions on the subject came to a conclusion in December 2014, when both houses of parliament passed the Public Procurement and Disposal of Public Property Bill. Better Value Attempts to introduce anti-corruption and procurement legislation have…

Overview

Trinidad and Tobago’s real estate sector is guaranteed more than enough opportunities due to pent-up demand for housing
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The broadly defined real estate sector of Trinidad and Tobago is dominated by three aspects. First, land is scarce, and perhaps of equal importance is that the perception of scarcity is ever-present. Trinidad has an area of around 4800 sq km and most of the country’s population of 1.34m is concentrated on the western side of the island, from Chaguaramas to Point Fortin and inland as far as Arima. By contrast, Tobago is around 300 sq km and is home to about 61,000 people. Second, past booms in energy…

Interview

Roodal Moonilal, Minister of Housing and Urban Development: Interview
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Interview:Roodal Moonilal What are the investment priorities in the housing development programme? ROODAL MOONILAL: Over the past five years, we have ramped up both new construction and renovation of existing units, while at the same time trying to reduce crowding out of the private sector. As a result, we started distributing 100 homes a week in March 2014, and we will continue to do so until the end of 2015. Beyond the short term, the country has to address the critical mismatch between…

Analysis

Conditions could become tougher for owners of office space in Trinidad and Tobago
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As of mid-2014, there were four class A office buildings under construction in Port of Spain, with a total of 250,000 sq feet of usable space, according to Terra Caribbean, a leading real estate agency. At the time, Terra Caribbean argued that this was a positive development, given a shortage of high-quality office space in the city. The shortage was the result of the government’s slowness to make use of all space available at its Waterfront complex. As a result of this lack of supply, numerous…