WORLDNEWS
2014
APEX (Access Platform
Exhibition)
June 24 - 26, 2014
Amsterdam, TheNetherlands
International Rental
Exhibition (IRE)
June 24 - 26, 2014
Amsterdam, TheNetherlands
Hillhead 2014
June 24 - 26, 2014
HillheadQuarry, Buxton, UK
Bauma China 2014
November 25 - 28, 2014
Shanghai, China
bC India 2014
December 15 - 18, 2014
Delhi, India
2015
World of Concrete
February 3 - 6, 2015
(Seminars: February 2 - 6)
Las Vegas, US
Intermat
April 20 - 25, 2015
Paris, France
Bauma ConExpoAfrica
September 15 - 18, 2015
Johannesburg, SouthAfrica
ConExpo LatinAmerica
October 21-24, 2015
Santiago, Chile
Excon 2015
December 2 - 6, 2015
Bangalore, India
2016
Bauma
April 11–17, 2016
Munich Trade Fair Centre
Munich, Germany
EXHIBITIONDIARY
7
june 2014
international
construction
UK
A consortium comprising FCC,
Kier andSamsung has broken
ground on theMersey Gateway
project in the UK. The scheme
comprises the design, construction,
financing, maintenance and 30
years’ operation of the bridge over
theRiverMersey, designed to
alleviate the area’s traffic problems.
The bridge betweenWidnes and
Runcornwill be 2.13 km long and
is expected to carry 80,000 vehicles
per day.
It will be 42mwide, with three
lanes in each direction, and the
pylonswill be 125m high.
The construction component of the
scheme is valued at
€
725million
(US$ 980million) and the link is due
to open in late 2017.
AUSTRALIA
Leighton
settles
Leighton has agreed to pay AU$
65.6million (US$ 59million) plus
costs to settle a class action lawsuit
relating to a profit downgrade it
issued in April 2011. The class
comprises shareholderswhobought
shares between16August 2010 and
11April 2011.
The case came about following
an announcement in April 2011,
when
Leighton
downgraded
its outlook for the year from a
AU$ 480 million (US$ 432
million) post-tax profit to a loss
of AU$ 427 million (US$ 385
million).This was due to problems
on two major Australian projects
and an impairment charge against
the company’s Middle East joint
venture, Habtoor Leighton Group
(HLG).
The action was brought due to
claims that the company should
have disclosed the issues earlier.
Leighton
CEO
Marcelino
Fernandez Verdes said, “While we
continue to deny the claim, the
decision to settle the class action
was a commercial one, taken in
the interests of our shareholders.
Resolving the matter permits
management to focus on the
operations of the business. The
settlement is not an admission of
any liability or a finding of any
breach of law against Leighton or
our executives.”
INDIA
Rail plans
Newly elected Indian Prime
Minister,
Narendra
Modi
(pictured) isbelieved tobeplanning
a national high-speed rail network,
following a series of election
speeches and manifesto pledges.
Mr Modi assumed the office of
Prime Minister in May following
the general election victory of his
Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).
The BJP’s 2014 manifesto said,
“Indian Railways is the lifeline of
the country. It will be modernised,
strengthened andupgraded to serve
passengers as well as the country’s
economy… We will launch (the)
Diamond Quadrilateral project
of High Speed Train network(s)
(bullet train).”
The
name
‘Diamond
Quadrilateral’ is a reference to
the ‘Golden Quadrilateral’ road
building project, a 5,850 km
national highways project launched
in the late 1990s by the last
BJP Prime Minister, Atal Bihari
Vajpayee to link Delhi, Mumbai,
Chennai andKolkata.
EUROPE
Balkans
floods
The
European
Bank
for
Reconstruction & Development
(EBRD) has announced an
initiative to help countries affected
by flooding in the Balkans.
As part of the regional flood
response, the EBRD will place a
priority on the rehabilitation of
damaged roads, railways and water
supply systems, as well as damaged
power stations, and transmission
and distributionnetworks.
The announcement came as
EBRD vice president for policy,
András Simor visitedflood-affected
parts of Bosnia and Herzegovina
to meet senior officials and
international counterparts.
No official estimates of the
damage are available so far,
but agriculture, infrastructure,
transport and local businesses are
expected to have been hit worst.
Before the visit, Mr Simor said,
“The EBRD is committed to
helping Bosnia and Herzegovina
overcome this devastating tragedy.
This is a regional disaster and
we stand ready to help countries
affected by the floods.”
The floods in mid-May affected
Bosnia & Herzegovina, Croatia,
Romania, Serbia and Slovakia,
causing more than 2,000 land
slides. It is estimated that 62
people died and some 1.6 million
expereinced some impact.
