Business View - March 2015 9
ment by its commercial and now its institutional proj-
ect types should enable this sector to register more
growth in 2015, notwithstanding a sluggish January.
For residential building, the strengthening job market
and some easing of lending standards for home mort-
gages are expected to help single family housing see
moderate improvement relative to a flat 2014.”
Nonbuilding construction jumped 87 percent in Janu-
ary to $231.8 billion (annual rate). The electric power
and gas plant category soared 840 percent, led by the
inclusion of these projects as January starts – $6.0
billion for two segments of a liquefied natural gas ex-
port facility on Quintana Island near Freeport, Texas,
a $1.5 billion liquefied petroleum gas export terminal
in Freeport, Texas, and a $1.0 billion liquefied natural
gas receiving terminal in Ingleside, Texas.
Other major January entries for the electric power and
gas plant category were a $300 million wind farm in
Texas and a $170 million segment of a solar power
facility in Nevada. The public works portion of non-
building construction grew 7 percent in January. The
miscellaneous public works category (which includes
such diverse project types as pipelines, mass transit,
and outdoor sports stadiums) advanced 49 percent,
boosted by the $350 million modernization of Sun Life
Stadium in the Miami, Fla. area.
Gains were also registered by sewer construction,
up 30 percent; and water supply construction, up 12
percent; but river/harbor development retreated 33
percent. Highway and bridge construction held steady
with its December pace, and featured the start of the
$550 million Border Highway West project in El Paso,
Texas.
