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Moneyweb reports that the construction sector has appealed to the government to allow it to return to work during the current extended coronavirus (Covid-19) lockdown period.
SA Forum of Civil Engineering Contractors (Safcec) CEO Webster Mfebe said the plea was made on behalf of the entire construction sector because the lockdown would, among other things, lead to an estimated 68,000 to 108,000 job losses in the formal construction industry over the next 18 months. The sector currently employs almost 900,000 people. The plea was made to the Public-Private Growth Initiative (PPGI), a sector-based collaboration between government and business, the day before President Cyril Ramaphosa announced the extension to the initial lockdown. Apart from highlighting the construction sector’s estimated job losses because of the lockdown in the letter to the PPGI, Mfebe said the size of the construction industry in terms of the rand value of fixed investment was expected to decline by 8.7% this year, from an initial forecast decline of only 1.5%. Mfebe said on Sunday that he had been reliably informed that the sector’s plea to reopen construction sites was receiving serious consideration by the authorities. David Metelerkamp of Industry Insight indicated last month that the lockdown would result in huge job losses in the construction industry as it was very labour intensive.
- Read the full original of the detailed report in the above regard by Roy Cokayne at Moneyweb
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