"We have brought people from Mozambique, Cabo Verde and Guinea, but with difficulties. We have been drawing the attention of the ambassadors of these countries and the Government itself to facilitate the hiring of workers, which in bureaucratic terms is not easy. It is important to tackle this now or in two/three years we will not have the labour, which is already in short supply," said José da Silva Fernandes in statements to the Lusa agency.

For some time now shortage of labour has been a problem for the sector which, despite work done with construction associations, "continues to be a problem" that tends to get worse, for demographic reasons.

"We've been working with the associations in training, but it's not enough because young people choose to work in other areas as construction is a hard job," he said.

Despite being satisfied with the recovery of the construction sector, José Fernandes warns of "the crisis that is expected in the next two years", anticipating that "they will be years with less investment, both in Portugal and in Europe".

As for the bond issue of €18.5 million carried out in February by the Casais group, he says it was "for projects in the area of real estate, hotels, offices, housing and services, especially in Portugal".

The Casais group has evolved over 60 years from a small business to a construction group with 4,500 employees and activity in 16 countries (Portugal, Germany, Angola, Belgium, Gibraltar, Netherlands, France, Morocco, Mozambique, Brazil, Qatar, Algeria, United Kingdom, United Arab Emirates, Spain and USA), ending 2018 with an aggregate turnover of €445 million (110 million more than the previous year), of which 319 million abroad, mainly in Angola.