The Asia Pacific construction sector has shown strong optimism and investment post-COVID with digitisation tipped as a key growth area according to the InEight Global Capital Projects Outlook.

The Outlook found that 93% of capital project and construction professionals in APAC are optimistic about their organisation’s future with 78% citing digital transformation as a key growth opportunity. It also found that 89% of respondents believe their organisation is resilient.

Digital transformation is considered the biggest short-term source of opportunity within APAC with data analytics, artificial intelligence and machine learning considered most critical for success for the next one to three years.

However, respondents were divided on the ongoing impact of the economic situation, with 59% identifying economic recovery as an opportunity and 52% identifying economic stagnation or recession as a risk to their organisation’s growth in the coming year.

Despite facing challenges such as border closures and material shortages, respondents are largely positive when it comes to improvements being made by the sector to deliver projects on schedule.

When it comes to delivering projects on time, 61% of respondents in APAC say that, in the last three years, the number of projects delivered on or ahead of schedule has increased, compared to 56% and 54% in Europe and the Americas respectively. However, when asked about delivering projects on or under budget, 55% of those in the Americas and 56% in Europe report a significant or slight increase in projects being delivered on or under budget, compared to 52% of APAC respondents. Delivering projects on budget remains a challenge within the region, with 20% of APAC respondents revealing that the average cost of a project that goes over budget is 15-20% over the original approved budget.

However, encouragingly 89% of APAC respondents are confident of completing future projects on or ahead of schedule, and 91% confident of doing so on or under budget. These figures reflect the highest levels of confidence in comparison to the 83% and 82% reported globally.

“It’s encouraging to see that the results of our Outlook show a construction sector in the APAC region that is full of confidence and optimism, despite facing tremendous challenges this past year,” InEight APAC executive vice president Rob Bryant says.

“Capital project spending is on the rise in APAC, as governments go on infrastructure spending sprees to avoid recession, which has led to high confidence levels locally.”

To access the full report, click this link.