Government urged to bring in more foreign construction workers

BANGKOK, November 27 (TNA) - The Thai government has been urged to more open the domestic market for foreign construction workers to meet rising demand. Issara Boonyang, Chairman of the Housing Estate Business Association, said on Tuesday that the need for skilled constructors in Thailand is likely to further increase in 2013 when construction of several mega-infrastructure projects, sponsored by the government, will be implemented. Issara noted that there are now more than three million people engaged in Thailand's housing construction business currently, but the domestic industry needs several more hundreds of thousands of workers. Issara assessed, because of the shortages of workers, several new construction projects in Thailand have been delayed and the situation is expected to deteriorate next year because of the building of several government-sponsored infrastructure projects, suggesting that the problem can be solved if more foreign workers are allowed to work in Thailand. Projecting housing prices in 2013, Issara said that the prices should rise by 5-10 per cent due to a daily minimum wage hike to 300 baht countrywide as of early next year and higher prices of construction materials, and that demand for houses, with prices ranging from 3-4 million baht each, should still exist. (TNA)