Province
B.C.’s multibillion-dollar building frenzy continues unabated. The latest major projects inventory released yesterday says there were 804 major capital projects worth an estimated record $124.2 billion planned or underway in B.C. in the first quarter of 2007.
It is the 15th straight quarter of inventory growth and every region in B.C. experienced growth from the same period last year. The number of projects, 711, increased by 13 per cent. There was a 37-per-cent jump in total value to an estimated $90.6 billion.
Published quarterly by the Ministry of Economic Development, the inventory includes projects with a capital cost of at least $20 million within the Lower Mainland and projects valued at $15 million or more in the rest of B.C.
The capital cost of all major projects under construction in the province is estimated at $48.7 billion, up from $46.5 billion in the last quarter of 2006.
Some 19 projects completed construction in the first quarter valued at approximately $1 billion, the largest being the $172-million life sciences centre at the University of B.C.
© The Vancouver Province 2007