Almost $20 Billion in Project Work Scheduled to Begin Construction During the Second Quarter 2007 in Great Lakes Region

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Researched by Industrial Info Resources (Sugar Land, Texas). The Great Lakes region began 2007 with a hefty increase in construction starts over that of the previous year and the second quarter appears poised to be even better for the region. Currently, Industrial Info Resources is tracking over 400 active capital and maintenance projects worth just under $20 billion that are scheduled to begin construction during the second quarter in the region, which is an increase of 56% over the same period in 2006.

Click on the image at right to view a chart showing the breakdown of project spending by state

The state of Illinois is leading the way, by far, in terms of overall spending for the coming quarter with $9 billion worth of construction expected to begin. Indiana is a distant second with $3.2 billion followed by Michigan, the once great Mecca of automotive spending, at $2.3 billion. Chief among the projects driving Illinois during the second quarter are the proposed $2 billion grassroot 1,500-megawatt (MW) Prairie State Energy Campus and the proposed $700 million coal-to-liquids conversion project in East Dubuque.

Alternative fuels projects, such as the aforementioned coal-to-liquids conversion project as well as the numerous proposed ethanol plants, have proven to be a boon to the state of Illinois, pumping hundreds of millions, if not billions, of dollars into the state’s economy, which in turn has helped the state get a firm grasp on first place in the spending wars for the quarter.

The Power Industry is still the overall leader in terms of which industries are investing the most in capital and maintenance projects with $9.2 billion worth of projects expected to begin in the coming three months. The Alternative Fuels Industry, however, has been surging forward with its spending and has taken a firm grasp on second place with just under $5 billion in spending expected for the second quarter in the region. Your traditional second-largest spender, the Industrial Manufacturing Industry, is currently barely retaining its hold on third in overall spending with $1.4 billion for the quarter and its downward swing in overall spending can be squarely laid at the feet of a struggling automotive industry, which is traditionally a significant spender each year.

The month of May will see the bulk of the spending with 44% of the money anticipated to be spent for the quarter, $8.6 billion, occurring during that month. The months of April and June evenly split the balance of the spending at $5.6 billion each.

Despite spending downturns in certain markets, such as the automotive industry, other industries, like alternative fuels, are more then making up the slack for the second quarter in the region. Spending continues to reach higher and higher heights as anticipated capital and maintenance work continues to increase. All signs point to 2007 being the best spending year in recent memory for the Great Lakes region and if some of the struggling industries can manage a recovery, even a slight one, banner spending totals could be solidified by year’s end.

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