According to the amendments to the RA Law "On State Due" passed by the Parliament of Armenia at the end of 2010, the annual rate for the right to carry out construction works was raised four times (from 100 000 AMD to 400 000 AMD), and has already led to the dismay of many construction companies. Recent media reports about expressed dissatisfaction of construction companies in Gyumri, is only the visible part of the iceberg of discontent. We agree with Gyumri contractors opinion, that changes in this Law are made absolutely not at the right time. World economic crisis, which in Armenia first of all hit the construction industry , catastrophically reducing the share of construction in the country's GDP, has put many contractors throughout the country to the brink of bankruptcy. In this situation, the Government should find the right way to help these companies survive, but not to strangle them eventually... The most disastrous consequences of this change is much more possible for small and medium-sized construction companies, which are now in a deplorable state. After all, the legal concept of "licensed construction work" is used not only for the construction of big projects, but includes any construction work that requires building permit, including small-scale construction, such as openings in existing walls, replacing the old wooden floors, construction of a small house or building, which are the small company's main activities. When getting license for listed construction activities these small companies automatically become 20% VAT payers(under VAT law) and appears outside of equal competition with many shadow and remodeling bodies (see article). The desire of any government to provide budget revenues are quite normal, but the methods of goal achievement should not be incongruous with today's situation in economy (and construction industry) and the mood of business society, and must not completely kill the entrepreneurial spirit, which already tremendously decays in recent years. Read law changes here (in Armenian)

As reported by The Telegraph, the British Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS) says next month's Budget should slash the amount of VAT people pay on repair and maintenance work on their homes in an effort to boost the struggling construction sector. RICS argues that the VAT rise will encourage tax avoidance since more building jobs will be done by cash in hand which could put homeowners more at risk of getting tangled up with "cowboy builders". The impact of the new rate of the sales tax has the potential to cost up to 34,000 construction jobs by 2019, according to RICS' calculations. The demand was among those laid out by RICS in its pre-Budget submission to the Treasury, which aims to encourage growth in the housing and commercial property sectors. Mark Goodwin, director of external affairs at RICS, said: "This Budget provides the Government with a chance to encourage growth and innovation in construction and property, providing much needed jobs, tackling the housing shortage and ensuring that businesses have a continuing supply of high-quality premises." In Britain to struggle with VAT high percentage was launched a special coalition called Cut the VAT Coalition, that includes more than twenty professional institutions and public organizations. Cut the VAT Coalition believes, that reducing the VAT from 17.5% to 5%t for maintenance and home improvement work would help to create around 51,000 new jobs in the construction and property industry and improve the quality of housing in the UK. The 5% VAT on this works is also recommended by European directives (1999/85/EC; 2006/112/EC). Despite the struggle for VAT reduction, to fight against huge budget deficit for 2011, British Government raise the VAT for home improvements from 17.5% to 20%. But the RICS calculations and recommendations, which is the world's leading professional body for qualifications and standards in land, property and construction, now forcing government to take urgent tax relief actions already in March. In addition to all the difficulties in the UK economy, 2010 government figures reveal house building completions at lowest level for 88 years. Completions fell to their lowest level since 1923, just 102,570 homes were completed in England in 2010, down 13% on 2009.

As reported by www.today.az prices for construction materials in Baku rose by 36.6% since the beginning start of 2010. The figures were calculated by the Real Estate Association, which monitored 88 items of goods on the construction materials market. The Association's last year study for prices of 89 type of construction materials also showed 21.1% increase. Thus in 2 years Azerbaijan construction market experienced 57.8% enormous rise in construction materials prices. As reported by Real Estate Association the year was marked by chaotic changes in prices for some building materials. As was reported earlier by Azerbaijan Statistic Board, the growth in construction sector for 9 months from the beginning of 2010 totaled 31.9%(2010/2009). This figure generally includes the huge rise (36.6%) of the construction materials prices, and real growth in the construction sector is questioned. The existing situation is quite unfavorable for contractors and many of them are in troubling situation with earlier signed contracts.

The history of construction of two hydro-power plants on the Arax (Araz) River lasted nearly 10 years, with estimated in 2001 construction cost about US$60-80million. After signing on March 19, 2007 the interstate agreement between Armenia and Iran, the Armenian Energy Minister Armen Movsisyan announced the construction of 2 power plants with capacity of 140 megawatts each, with estimated construction cost about US$140million and construction start in 2008. And finally, according to the latest announcement of Minister, the construction of two 130 megawatts power stations will start in early 2011 with estimated cost US$323million... A distinctive feature of the License Agreement between two countries is that the Armenian side does not finance and build these power stations, and everything is done by the Iranian side. The Armenian part of the station, which is called Meghri HPP must be given to Armenia without indemnity after 20 years, which include 5-year construction period and 15-year exploitation and payback period through the sale of electricity to Iran. Construction will be implemented by the Iranian company Farad-Sepasad, which will solve on its own all the financial and organization problems concerning the construction and the exploitation of Meghri HPP. Meghri HPP energy output is planned to be about 800 million kWh/year, and it must be founded jointly that at the transmission time the electromechanical and hydro mechanical devices have resources for the 10-year effective operation, and the tunnel (18.2km) and engineering structures have resources for 30 years. Along with the construction of hydroelectric power stations, parties are going to start building of a new additional third high-voltage (400kV) transmission line which will increase the power transmission between the two countries to 1000MVt. The construction of this third high-voltage line and "Noravan" substation will cost about € 108 million and will be implemented during 18 months. The length of the transmission line in Armenia is approximately 275 kilometres (from the border of Iran to "Noravan" substation- 80 kilometres, from "Noravan" substation to Hrazdan fifth energy block - 195 kilometres) and 163 kilometres in Iran.

Innovative Composites International, a Canadian builder, will construct plastic homes for thousands of earthquake victims in Haiti. The units it will build are expected to cost less, but be stronger, more environment-friendly and easier to assemble compared to houses built using traditional construction materials. The technology involves combining high-strength fibers with low-cost plastic and making available structural applications in lieu of steel, concrete and wood with a strong, light and 100 percent recyclable material. An official of the Canadian Home Builders Association said wood, which is usually used for house framing in Canada, is not an ideal building materials for Haiti and in other countries with warm and tropical climates because of the need to treat wood for decay. The material that Innovative Composites will use is expected to withstand hurricanes and tremors. More than one million homes were destroyed by the magnitude 7 earthquake that struck Haiti in January 2010. In October, Innovative Composites was named a finalist of the Building Back Better Communities housing competition in Port-au-Prince. The firm has as its partners for the project 3D Global Solutions and Barclays Gedi Group, which are private U.S. companies. Their consortium promised to deliver 5,000 houses yearly. The housing project, which is expected to cost $4 billion, would be divided among 6 to 10 developers. US$4-billion fund has been established under the stewardship of former U.S. president Bill Clinton.