PETALING JAYA (May 23): Kuala Lumpur is the fourth least expensive city in Asia to build in, according to the International Construction Costs 2018 report published by Global Design & Consultancy firm for natural and built assets Arcadis.

According to the report, Hong Kong is the most expensive city in Asia, followed by Macau and Singapore, while the top three least expensive cities to build are Bengaluru, New Delhi and Mumbai.

In the same survey report published last year, Kuala Lumpur was ranked the second cheapest country to build in Asia.

The firm obtained the results based on the comparative cost assessment of 50 major cities, which is based on a survey of constructions costs undertaken by Arcadis that covers 13 building types in 4Q17.

Arcadis Malaysia country head Justin Teoh said as Malaysia enters a new political era, the government should consider on how digitalisation can boost the economy by improving productivity in the construction sector, which remains one of the least digitalised.

“Moving forward, we urge the industry to embrace technological advances to keep in step with the rest of the region,” he said in a press statement.

The annual report is published amid a growing global economy in 2018.

Arcadis said countries around the world are experiencing an upturn since last year after a better-than-expected 2017 and this robust economic performance will accelerate the demand for construction around the world.

According to the survey, San Francisco, New York and Hong Kong were the top three most expensive cities in which to build in the world.

The firm said the relative strength of the US dollar is a key factor influencing the positioning of cities in the index this year.

“The strong dollar places North American cities higher in the index compared to markets where the domestic currency is relatively weaker,” said the report.

Meanwhile, China’s One Belt, One Road project is also contributing significantly to global construction demand, with over US$900 billion (RM3.58 trillion) of planned projects, including gas pipelines in Central Asia and high-speed railways in Indonesia.

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