Many hotels and Integrated Resort Scheme (IRS) projects should start construction soon. Bhunjun & Sons, involved in the construction field, believes there will be a “boom” in this sector next year. However, building firms may face a major problem at the same time. While the Empowerment Programme has recently made it public that there were 1,500 vacancies in the field, the companies are starting to realise that very few Mauritians are interested in such work. Hence, many firms will have to resort to foreign labour in the near future.

Most of the projects will probably come from the private sector, as the government will be busy tightening its belt. The Central Statistics Office forecasts a 5% growth in the sector in 2006. The manager of Bhunjun & Sons, Soodarsan Bhunjun, is of the opinion that “big companies may have to subcontract to the smaller ones”.

In view of the importance the sector will take on next year, the companies will take the necessary steps to meet the demands of their clientele. As it is “becoming difficult to find people of less than 40 years old on the local market”, as Rehm Grinaker acknowledges, “and since those who accept to work are not regular”, as Soodarsan Bhunjun says, they will inevitably have to “resort to foreign labour-force even if this will be more costly”, as stated by the director of Building & Civil Engineering, Roger Dalais.