Shimizu Corp. is forecasting a profit jump of about 24 percent this year on the outlook for a recovery in orders for infrastructure projects including roads and bridges.

Operating income will probably be ¥25 billion ($309 million) in the year ending March 31, compared with 20.2 billion in the previous 12 months, according to a statement Friday from Japan's largest builder by market value.

Shimizu said it expects a recovery in both private construction demand and public works while the northeast rebuilds from the March 11 earthquake and tsunami. Construction spending will rise 8.3 percent this fiscal year, the first gain since 1996, according to estimates by a nonprofit research group affiliated with the infrastructure ministry.

"We expect orders for civil engineering projects to recover this year," Seikichi Kurosawa, Shimizu executive vice president, told reporters in Tokyo.

The company's business in the Tohoku region accounted for about 3.6 percent of orders last year.

Net income will probably increase to ¥11 billion this year, from ¥10.8 billion in the previous 12 months, according to the company's statement. Sales may climb 2 percent to ¥1.33 trillion.

Reconstruction may support Japan's gross domestic product from the quarter starting in July and this will boost annual GDP by 1.3 percent to 2013, according to Daiwa Institute of Research.

Japan may also need to invest 5.¥2 trillion each year to rebuild infrastructure such as roads and bridges, Daiwa's analysts, including Mitsumaru Kumagai, wrote in a report April 18.

Construction spending will jump to ¥42.3 billion this year, the Research Institute of Construction and Economy projects on its website.