At an 8.2 per cent clip in 2015, the construction sector remained the fastest-growing segment of the domestic economy.

The bright prospects for job awards this year are accentuated by the already-strong roll-outs in the infrastructure arena, translating into ample job replenishment opportunities for construction firms.

“This year, awards for rail- and road-related jobs have been ramped up, most notably the Klang Valley MRT Line 2 and the Pan Borneo Highway (in Sarawak), for which the announced job parcels to date have exceeded RM25 billion in total,” said the ratings agency in a statement today.

Several large projects are also undergoing the tender process.

With the pick-up in the pace of infrastructure work expected to mitigate the softer property segment, construction firms should thus be able to sustain their healthy revenue visibility, said RAM Ratings.

Most of the large listed ones currently have order books that cover at least 1.7 times their construction top lines.

“That said, project concentration for construction firms is expected to stay high,” it added.

For the first quarter of 2016, gross development product (GDP) growth for the construction sector expanded at 7.9 per cent.

However, the ratings agency said the GDP growth was expected to moderate slightly to 7.1 per cent for the full year, factoring in the increased likelihood that jobs deemed less crucial to the economy may experience slower implementation as well as the more subdued property market.

– BERNAMA