New construction jobs from the construction of high-rise buildings are expected to resume in the second half after the Covid-19 vaccine is distributed, after slowing since 2019 as a result of the sluggish condo market.
Chuchoke Sevakunarkon, managing director of The Concrete Products and Aggregate (CPAC), a major ready-mixed concrete supplier and one of SET-listed Siam Cement Group's (SCG) subsidiaries, said the decline emerged in 2019.
"The slowdown occurred among small- and medium-sized property firms while large developers remained bullish," he said. "Last year, new construction jobs shrank in a large number and will continue to do so this year."
He said the faster people are vaccinated, the sooner foreign investors will come back.
While high-rise building sector slowed down, the low-rise development sector maintained growth, but only in Greater Bangkok and major provinces, said Mr Chuchoke.
"Construction activities from the public sector, which accounts for more than half of our sales remain steady, but those from the private sector have declined," he said.
He said all parties should take this chance to improve their back offices.
Mr Chuchoke suggested bringing about an improvement in construction technology, digitisation and reskilling and upskilling high-value workforces.
"The key in construction jobs is people," he said. "If their skills improve, construction standards and quality will improve too. This will eventually cut down waste in construction time and materials."
Chana Poomee, vice-president for SCG's cement and construction solution business, said waste in construction jobs accounts for 15% of construction value.
The overall construction industry in Thailand is valued at 1 trillion baht per year, implying total waste costs around 150 billion baht.
"SCG has applied this idea for two years through the CPAC Solution Centre and we can see cost savings of 10%," he said. "We want to expand to partners in our ecosystem, particularly the 2,000-3,000 small contractors."
On Wednesday, CPAC signed an agreement with the Council of Engineers Thailand to help raise the standard of Thai engineers through research, training, seminars and workshops.