Construction Risk Management Asia 2024

The recently published Global Construction Futures Report, produced by Oxford Economics, predicts that completed global construction work will grow over US$4.2 trillion over the next 15 years—from US$9.7 trillion in 2022 to US$13.9 trillion by 2037.

Asia is the dominant region behind the sector’s growth with India, in tandem with its population growth, expected to be the fastest growing of all global superpowers and becoming the third largest global construction market before the end of the decade.

China’s growth is expected to be challenged in the short-term due to real estate but will recover from 2025. The four key ASEAN countries—Philippines, Vietnam, Malaysia and Indonesia—are forecast to be the fastest growing construction markets over the next 15 years supported by a strong demographic outlook and government-backed transport infrastructure and housing developments.

Whilst the outlook for growth within the Asian construction and infrastructure sector is positive, there are and will continue to be a significant number of existing and new challenges faced by firms and individual directors. A period of intense global geopolitical instability, high inflation, the threat and realisation of recessions, ongoing conflicts with Russia’s war on Ukraine and high volatility in the Middle East, supply chain strains, cyber security and the transition to a net-zero environment are just a few examples of some of the challenges faced.

To meet these challenges and risks, construction contractors and project owners are placing an ever greater emphasis on the governance of risk management across their businesses. Budgets are shifting, risk management functions are growing in volume and increased responsibility and strategies are changing.