Number of Construction Establishments Dropped by 5.1 Percent

There were an estimated total number of 2,555 construction establishments in business operations during the year 2003, reflecting a decrease of 5.1 percent from the 2,691 construction establishments recorded in 2001 according to the results of the 2003 Annual Survey of Philippine Business and Industry. The general engineering construction industry remained to be the biggest in terms of the number of establishments, as they comprised more than half (50.8 percent or 1,295 establishments) of the total establishments. This industry, which is comprised of establishments engaged in the construction of civil engineering works like roads, bridges, ports and seaports, also declined in the number of establishments by 3.4 percent from 1,340 establishments recorded in 2001. Figure 1 compares the number of establishments by industry in 2003 and 2001.

Building Permit Applications Rose to 27,714

Building permit applications during the second quarter of 1997 increased by 35 percent reaching to 27,714 from 20,573 received during the same period in 1996.
Applications for all types of building constructions increased. Bulk of building permits was issued for the construction of residential buildings numbering 19,710 or an increase of 39 percent from 14,227. Non-residential building constructions rose by 21 percent to 2,991 from 2,472. Those for additions, alterations/repairs grew by 29 percent to 5,013 from 3,874. Fig. 1. shows the distribution of building permit application by type during the first quarter of 1996 & 1997.
Among provinces, Cavite got the highest building permit applications of 4,383 accounting for 16 percent of the total. Bulacan ranked second with 1,379 applications or 5 percent.