Building boom in Latvia

Construction volumes in Latvia jumped 10.8 percent last year, reaching 469.3 million lats (749.7 million euros) last year.

According to the national statistics office, new construction in Latvia increased 33.5 percent, or 48.5 million lats, year-on-year and accounted for 41.2 percent of total construction in 2002, while renovation and reconstruction volumes fell by 1 percent or 2.8 million lats.

Residential buildings with total area of 187,600 square meters were put into commission in Latvia last year, down 0.5 percent from 2001.

A number of major construction projects were completed in Latvia in 2002, including the administrative building for LMT mobile phone operator, a bridge across the Bullupe river and the Ozo Golf Club.

As usual, most of the construction carried out in Latvia last year was done in Riga (55.7 percent of total), followed by Ventspils in (6.9 percent) and Liepaja (5 percent).

New construction and renovation of utilities in Latvia last year increased 1.5 times from 2001, while for retail and wholesale facilities the growth was 1.4 times and for residential buildings 1.3 times.

At the same time, construction of ports and dams slumped 47 percent, and hotel construction and similar facilities fell 33 percent.

In 2002 the amount of construction done by Latvian builders abroad was 2.4 million lats, shrinking considerably from 2001 when this figure was 9.8 million lats.