WORLD NEWS
2013
Matexpo 2013
September 4 – 8, 2013
Kortrijk, Belgium
Bauma Africa 2013
September 18 – 21, 2013
Johannesburg, South Africa
International Construction
Equipment Congress
September 19 – 20 , 2013
Istanbul, Turkey
BICES 2013
October 15 – 18 , 2013
Beijing, China
International Construction
Economic Forum (ICEF)
November 20 – 22, 2013
Amsterdam, the Netherlands
Excon 2013
November 20 – 24 , 2013
Bangalore, India
MS Africa & Middle East
December 9 – 12, 2013
Cairo, Egypt
2014
Intermat Middle East
January 14 – 16, 2014
Abu Dhabi, UAE
World of Concrete
January 21 – 24, 2014
(Seminars 20 – 24 January)
Las Vegas, US
ConExpo-Con/Agg 2014
March 4 – 8, 2014
Las Vegas, US
SMOPYC 2014
April 1 – 5, 2014
Zaragoza, Spain
DIARY DATES
7
september 2013
international
construction
CHINA
The 632 m Shanghai Tower
in the city’s Lujiazui commercial
district became the second tallest
building in the world behind the
828 m Burj Khalifa in Dubai, UAE,
when it topped out in August.
Designed by architect Gensler,
the building is scheduled to open
in 2014. It is supported by 831
reinforced concrete foundation piles
and a 6 m thick mat foundation
containing 61,000 m
3
of concrete.
For more on the latest developments
in skyscrapers around the world, go
to the High Rise feature on page 25.
AUSTRALIA
Corruption
settlement
The World Bank has reached
a settlement agreement with
engineering contractor Sinclair
Knight Merz (SKM) after the
company self-reported corrupt
misconduct relating to Bank-
financed projects in the East Asia
and Pacific region.
SKMand its parent companies and
subsidiaries have been sanctioned
with conditional non-debarment
for two and a half years. This means
that, as long as the companies
fulfil certain conditions such as the
implementation of a more robust
compliance programme and further
co-operation with the World Bank,
they will remain eligible to bid for
Bank-financed projects.
The World Bank said the nature
of the sanction reflected SKM’s
voluntary acknowledgment of
corrupt misconduct.
SKM has also fired key individuals
connected with the illegitimate
payments. The company initiated
an internal appropriate-business-
practices policy, and took steps
to improve its governance and
compliance procedures.
Leonard McCarthy, World Bank
vice president of integrity, said,
“The World Bank took into account
SKM’s co-operation and willingness
to provide evidence in support of
further investigations.”
As a result of the co-operation
received from SKM, the World
Bank said it was able to take steps
to safeguard its funds and also
identify other potential targets for
investigation.
US
Mixed output messages
Construction output in the US
for the 12 months to June was up
+3.3% year-on-year at US$ 884
billion, according to the Census
Bureau. However, this was down
-0.3% from the rolling annual total
to May 2013 of US$ 889 billion
Although residential construction
was up +17.6% compared to a year
ago to US$ 338 billion in June, it
slipped -0.1% compared to the end
of May. In contrast, non-residential
construction was down -4.0%
year-on-year in June, and -1.0%
compared to May’s total.
Publicly-funded construction in
the US continued to fall in June,
with the value of this sector of the
market falling -9.3% compared
to a year ago to US$ 261 billion.
In
contrast,
privately-funded
construction was up +9.7%
compared to a year ago, at US$ 622
billion.
Ken Simonson, chief economist at
the Associated General Contractors
of America (AGC) said, “The largest
public categories – highways and
education construction – are now
plummeting at double-digit rates.”
