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Market Robust as Transportation Projects Seen as Key to Recovery

Around the world, nations race to expand development
12/23/2009

By Tom Nicholson

In the void left by collapsed construction markets around the world, transportation projects are not
only a holdout of relatively robust activity but are embraced globally as a vital step on the road to
recovery.

Firms in the transportation sector are crisscrossing the globe as developing nations race to build
new roads, railways and airports, while in America, Europe and the Middle East new technologies
and growing populations are pushing projects forward. In the sector currently are some of the largest
projects in the world, such as the $10-billion Al Maktoum International Airport being built in Jebel Ali,
United Arab Emirates.

Globally, transportation projects are often tied up

in “very important political issues,” says Chris
Davis, director of transportation at London-
based contractor Mott Macdonald. “In the past,
funding agencies weren’t as willing to embrace
transportation projects, but that has changed,
and now transportation projects are priorities
around the world, recognized as vital to
development.”

Mott Macdonald has transportation projects in

Poland, the Czech Republic, South Africa and
Abu Dhabi. Projects include a $26-billion rail link
in London, a joint venture with Mississauga,
Canada-based Hatch Associates on a $9-billion
P h o t o : M o t t M a cDo n a l d port and rail project in Goba, South Africa, and
Firms report more contracts for mass transit an ambitious master plan for Abu Dhabi
work, such as the $13-billion rail project International Airport to build a 450-kilometer
connecting Taipei and Kaohsiun in Taiwan. network of rail, tram, ferry and bus systems, for
which cost details have not been released. The
plan consists of “short- and medium-term plans
to transform Abu Dhabi’s transport into a world-class system,” says Luis Willumsen, technical director
at London-based transport consultant Steer Davies Gleave, which partnered with Mott Macdonald on
the plan. The sector’s demand for “urban transport, general infrastructure and mass transit is
definitely growing and will continue to, along with urbanization happening in Asia and the Middle
East,” says Davis.

Approaches to the market are being tailored to demand, and contractors are jumping through
whatever hoops they must for the work, whether it be forming joint ventures, venturing into new
delivery processes or entering into public-private partnerships. “Delivery is changing so that
contractors are more focused on managing risk, and projects are more often let on a target-cost
basis,” Davis notes. Some contractors are shifting tactics to zero in on regional markets and form
relationships with local designers and constructors. Where industry giants such as Bechtel and Fluor
have held sway on many foreign markets as a result of their ability to import expertise, a new
paradigm is emerging in which “there is more and more capability to design and contract locally,”
says Davis.

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One American firm has found its stride in the new paradigm, jumping headlong into Eastern Europe’s
transportation markets and landing contracts for several major jobs. A subsidiary of White Castle,
La.-based Crown Enterprises, IMTC-MEI was formed two years ago to tap demand for airport and
road projects in Eastern Europe. Headed by a cadre of a dozen or so industry veterans, the firm
planted offices in Slovakia, Georgia and Ukraine and started competing with local contractors for
small to medium-sized projects—and winning several, says Sean Regan, IMTC-MEI vice president of
internal operations.

“We have come here with American equipment and expertise and have embraced the European
model of contracting and accounting,” says Regan. “We integrated local talent to work on spec with
us, trained them, developed relationships, formed strategic alliances and learned local cultures.” So
far the firm has outperformed expectations, landing contracts for a $200-million airport runway and
facility upgrade at Lviv Airport in Lviv, Ukraine, and a $157-million airport project in Odessa.

Conversely, foreign firms are making a run at American markets too. Beijing-based China State
Construction Engineering Corp. won a $410-million renovation contract on the Alexander Hamilton
Bridge spanning Manhattan and the Bronx in New York City. The project and two others the firm won
in New York represent a fresh wave of foreign firms with the “ambition to tap American construction
markets,” says Li Zhirui, construction industry analyst at First Capital Securities, New York City.

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