Isle construction up
23 percent for past 8 months

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Star-Bulletin Staff

The total value of future construction projects in Hawaii rose 23 percent, to $1.2 billion in the first eight months of the year from $976.5 million in the same period a year earlier, according to a monthly survey.

Driving the increase was a 93 percent jump in nonbuilding construction contracts, which includes streets, bridges, dams, airports and utilities.

The total value of those contracts rose to $375.7 million from $194.3 million, according to the F.W. Dodge Division of The McGraw-Hill Companies Inc. The division, based in New York, is a national authority on the construction industry.

The total value of future commercial construction stayed flat in the first eight months of the year at $252.1 million compared with $249 million in the same period in 2000.

Residential construction values rose slightly to $570.3 million from $533.2 million, a 7 percent increase.

For the month of August alone, the total statewide value of future construction dropped 31 percent to $113.1 million from $163 million.

The decrease was primarily caused by the near-absence of commercial contracts, which fell to $1.8 million in value from $60.3 million in 2000.