News Poland will need ‘financial partners’ for second nuclear plant Poland can pay for the first of two planned nuclear power plants (NPPs) but will have to seek help fund the second, prime minister Donald Tusk said this week, Reuters…
News US highway contractor pays $950,000 to settle discrimination allegations New Jersey roadbuilder MV Contracting has agreed to pay $950,000 to resolve allegations it represented itself as a disadvantaged business enterprise (DBE) to obtain federal contracts, while not accepting any…
News Balfour Beatty pays female truck driver $80,000 to settle sexual harassment case in US The US infrastructure arm of British contractor Balfour Beatty has agreed to pay $80,000 to a female truck driver who was the subject of a sexual harassment, hostile work environment…
News New York contractor jailed after ‘stringing customers along for years’ A builder in Niagara County, New York, has been sentenced to up to eight years in state prison after a three-year period in which he accepted deposits from homeowners but…
Trends Eurozone construction activity falls for 29th straight month Hamburg Commercial Bank’s latest survey of sentiment among construction’s purchasing managers has shown that the Eurozone’s industry remains obscured by gloom, with new orders continuing to fall as prices and…
News Manager of China Railways subsidiary charged with accepting $250,000 bribe Hong Kong’s Independent Commission against Corruption (ICAC) yesterday charged a manager with China Railways 15th Bureau (CR15) with accepting a US$250,000 bribe from a subcontractor. Xu Wenju, 40, deputy general…
News Australian construction boss found guilty of fraud after six-month trial A Sydney construction boss and four others have been found guilty of a conspiracy to defraud Australia’s tax office of more than US$7.1m over two years. The Australian Broadcasting Corporation…
Companies Mota-Engil profit up 65% on strong Latin American performance Portuguese contractor Mota-Engil said yesterday that its pre-tax profit for the first half of the year rose 12% to €396m and its consolidated group profit rose 65% to €49m. The…
News Australia warns of $3bn ore slump as China’s boom reverses Australia’s economic policy chief, Treasurer Jim Chalmers, has warned that falling iron ore prices linked to a major slowdown in China’s construction output could lead to a A$3bn hole in…
News Cost hikes put Denmark’s $30bn energy island back at least three years A combination of inflating commodity costs and high interest rates has forced Denmark to postpone the start of work on the first of its planned “energy islands” for at least…
News OSHA fines Indiana contractor $199,000 over fall risk The US Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) has fined Indiana contractor MDM & Sons Construction LLC a total of $199,000 after alleging that employees were working at heights of…
News Cost of Pakistan’s M6 motorway nearly triples to $1.7bn The cost of Pakistan’s M6 motorway between the cities of Sukkur and Hyderabad has nearly tripled in six years as a result of “mismanagement and inordinate delays by the federal…
News China to spend $31bn on 11 new reactors China has given the green light to 11 reactors on five sites with a combined investment value of $31bn. The decision was made at a State Council meeting on Monday…
News Could you lead a megaproject? Find out in next week’s 21CC podcast Megaprojects, writes Bent Flyvbjerg, a leading expert on the topic, “are large-scale, complex ventures that typically cost more than 1 billion US Dollars, take many years to build, involve multiple…
News Shenzhen to buy unsold new homes for low-income renters Shenzhen has become China’s first tier-one city to announce plans to buy unsold homes from struggling developers to turn them into rentals for low-income people. It comes three months after…
News Highways contractor accused of ‘brazen fraud’ in price-fixing conspiracy An Oklahoma contractor specialising in erosion control on highway projects has been charged, along with its vice president and another employee, with a price-fixing conspiracy targeting more than $100m worth…
Projects Amtrak’s biggest-ever upgrade is set to unblock America’s busiest railroad A flagship project of President Joe Biden’s $1.3 trillion bipartisan Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA) is accelerating this summer, a senior project leader tells GCR. Amtrak’s $6bn programme to…
News Widow of Philadelphia construction worker awarded $68m in compensation A jury in Philadelphia has ordered that the widow of a construction worker should receive compensation of $68.5m after it found his death was due to negligence. Siarhei Marhunou, 38,…