international
construction
july-august 2014
WORLD NEWS
6
INDIA
The Asian Development Bank
(ADB) has approved a US$ 300 million
loan to India’s northeastern Assam
state for work on power generation and
distribution upgrades, including the
construction of a 120 MW hydropower
plant. As well as financing the
planned Lower Kopili run-of-the-river
hydropower plant in central Assam, the
ADB will also fund the replacement of
gas turbines at the Lakwa Gas Power
Plant in northern Assam.
BRAZIL
Equipment manufacturer
XCMG has opened the first factory it
has built outside China. Its plant in
Pouso Alegre, in the Brazilian state of
Minas Gerais is capable of producing
up to 7,000 units per year. Machines
to be produced there are expected to
include excavators, graders, wheeled
loaders and truck cranes for the
Brazilian and wider Latin American
markets.
CANADA
Ravi Saligram has been
named CEO of equipment auction
company Ritchie Bros, succeeding
Peter Blake. Mr Saligram previously
served as president and CEO of office
supply company OfficeMax, from
November 2010 up to his move to
Ritchie Bros in July. He will be based
at the Ritchie Bros head office in
Vancouver, Canada.
EUROPE
Johan Willemen has
been elected president the European
Construction Industry Federation (FIEC)
for a two-year term from 2014 to 2016,
succeeding Thomas Schleicher. A
civil engineer, Mr Willemen is the CEO
of family-owned company, Willemen
Groep, in Belgium. He had been
president of the Belgian Confédération
Construction/Confederatie Bouw as
well as being vice president of FIEC.
BELARUS
The construction industry
was one of the key drivers of the
Belarusian economy up until 2012,
but this has declined along with state
supported infrastructure development
programmes, accordingPMR. The
market research company’s latest
report,
Construction Sector in Belarus
2014 – Development Forecasts
for 2014 to 2019
, showed that the
country’s construction industry
contracted by -1.1% year on year in
2013, after a more severe reduction of
-8.6% in 2012.
HIGHLIGHTS
GLOBAL
CSCEC tops ranking
Chinese companies dominate industry Top 200
and the top spot is claimed by the world’s first
US$ 100 billion+ per year contractor.
C
hina State Construction & Engineering Corporation (CSCEC) has
topped
iC’s
ranking of the world’s 200 largest construction companies
for the third year running. It landed the honour with revenues last year
of CNY 662 billion (US$ 108 billion), making it the first contractor in the
industry’s history to break the US$ 100 billion per year sales mark.
As in the 2013 edition of the ranking, there were four other Chinese
contractors in the top ten. These included the country’s two major rail
construction groups, China Railway Construction in second place and
China Railway Group in third. The highest-placed non-Chinese company
was Vinci in fourth place.
There were a total of 11 Chinese contractors in the Top 200, and they
claimed the greatest slice of the group’s US$ 1,625 billion revenues, with a
27.2% share. This was an increase on their 23.7% share last year.
The largest national group in the Top 200 in terms of the number of
companies was the US, with 36. They had aggregate revenues of US$ 213
billion, second to the Chinese total of US$ 442 billion.
US companies also made the most improvements in their standings
compared to last year, with 17 of the 36 companies listed climbing the
rankings and seven new entries. Many of these were house building
specialists benefiting from a market recovery. However, the most notable was
Chicago Bridge & Iron’s 33-place gain to no. 35, thanks to its acquisition
of Shaw Group.
There were also significant gains and new entries from UK construction
companies in this year’s Top 200. In contrast, there were falls for several
Brazilian, Indian, Japanese and Spanish construction companies.
Employment in the industry was up +2.9%, with the average Top 200
company employing 24,583 people. This implies total employment by the
group of 4.91 million people.
Industry profitability also improved on last year’s ranking, with an average
operating margin of 4.65%, compared to 4.30% in the 2013 edition.
For more details, see this month’s News Report on p. 14.
A concrete viaduct that was under
construction in the Brazilian city
of Belo Horizonte collapsed on
July 3, killing at least two people.
The bridge over Pedro I Avenue
was about 3 km from the Mineirao
Stadium World Cup venue and was
an infrastructure project linked
to the tournament, designed to
improve public transport.
Some eyewitnesses said the
collapse took place as workers
removed supports from the
structure. There were also angry
local reactions with some witnesses
claiming the project was being
rushed due to missed deadlines.
BRAZIL
World Cup bridge collapse
A statement from Cowan, the
Belo Horizonte-based contractor
carrying out construction of
the overpass, said it “remains
supportive and offering full support
to the victims and their families
following the accident with the
overpass under construction in
Belo Horizonte.”
It added that all the materials
and procedures being used met the
standards required. It added that it
had launched its own investigation
and would publish the results in
30 days, and that once authorities
released the site it would demolish
and remove the collapsed structure.
CHINA
Corruption
allegations
Zhang Zheying, deputy chief
engineer at contractor Metallurgical
Corporation of China (MCC) has
been expelled from the Communist
Party of China following charges of
corruption.
Chinese state-owned news agency
Xinhua has reported that Ms
Zhang, a senior official at China’s
fifth biggest contractor, faces
charges of “serious disciplinary and
legal violations.”
An investigation by the State-
owned Assets Supervision and
Administration
Commission
(SASAC) – MCC is a state-owned
company – has reportedly found
that Ms Zhang took advantage of
her post to solicit bribes and other
material advantages.
Ms Zhang’s expulsion from the
Communist Party is a career-
ending penalty that will prevent
her from holding any public office.
She is now likely to face criminal
charges and accepting bribes can
be punished by execution in China,
although a prison sentence is more
common.
MCC is the world’s 10th largest
contractor. The company is a
general contractor and real estate
developer.
