Myanmar’s construction industry is reeling from the twin blows of the coronavirus pandemic and a military takeover in February, with developers forced to dismiss hundreds of thousand workers from stalled projects, Bloomberg reported.

It may take the industry at least three years to “return to normal,” according to Myo Myint, general secretary of the Myanmar Construction Entrepreneurs Federation.

More jobs are at risk if the authorities fail to contain the spread of Covid-19 and minimize its impact on one of the leading job providers in the country, he said.

Myanmar is seeing new virus cases and fatalities set daily records, crippling an economy that’s now forecast by the World Bank to contract 18% this year. Prospects of any short-term recovery for the construction sector are seen blunted by the slow pace of vaccinations.