RIGA - The Latvian national statistics office reported that the nation's construction volume has reached 762.7 million lats (1.09 billion euros) during the first nine months of this year, a 16 percent growth from the same period in 2005. During the third quarter of 2006, construction volume in Latvia was 363 million lats, a growth of 12.2 percent from the same time last year.
New construction in January-September 2006 increased by 19.1 percent or 62 million lats from the same nine-month period in 2005 in constant prices, while renovation and reconstruction rose 13 percent or 43.4 million lats.
The figures showed positive trends in bridge, education infrastructure, and industrial construction. The construction and renovation of bridges increased 1.9 times, while work on education establishments grew 1.4 times. The construction of industrial buildings and storage facilities rose 1.3 times.
However, retail and utility spending decreased. The construction of pipelines, utility and power lines fell 20 percent and the construction of wholesale and retail buildings decreased by 12 percent.
During the first nine months of this year, construction performed by Latvian firms abroad was 4.8 million lats, and occurred mostly in EU and CIS countries. There were 2.7 million lats and two million lats respectively, compared to 2.6 million lats and 1.8 million lats in nine months of 2005.
Foreign building companies performed 2.8 million lats of construction in Latvia during January-September 2006.
