Conference call

Oscar Wendel.

The Construction Week conference is upon us again and, as ever, it provides a great way to get a feel for where we are at the end of 2010.

This time last year many of us were in survival mode, and many of us still in our jobs started appreciating them for the first time. Now in its fourth year, this month’s installment of the event will, as it is every year, be distinctly different in its focus and outlook.

It is well-known that in boom times companies tend to value the ability to make rosy projections over any actual ability to deliver results, but in our globalised economy this would appear to have become a wider human trait.

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It is peculiar that, despite the modern world’s persistent claims to place scientific fact over guesswork, businesses have been largely exempt – rarely has more blind faith been demonstrated in the history of mankind.

Looking at every newsstand, it still appears to be common knowledge that if you just believe strong enough then any dream is possible. For much of the world economy this thinking mostly delivered delusional expectations and made the meltdown all the more difficult when it finally came.

Hopefully that’s all in the past now, and as we start to look towards 2011, the construction industry is seeing brighter horizons and rediscovering the fundamental health and promise of this region.

The demand for infrastructure for the young and growing Arab populations constitutes real demand. This is no more true than in Iraq, where it was widely reported last week that the estimates for the country’s oil reserves had been greatly understated. In the future, Iraq will inevitably see a flurry of construction activity.

Libya is another star on the horizon, a country which is quickly opening up to international business, with continued expansion in its oil exploration and infrastructure projects. It is one of the most hydrocarbon rich countries in the world, with gas exploration just starting.

After having been largely isolated from international trade in the last few decades and running budget surpluses as high as 40% in recent years, Libya will likely prove to also be fertile ground for construction tenders.

Both these exciting new markets will be addressed at Construction Week conference in Abu Dhabi later this month, when we will welcome Parson Brinckerhoff’s country manager for Iraq to speak about his experiences of running mega infrastructure projects there.

We will also welcome Saleh Muradweij, who heads up the company GTCC of Drake & Scull, who is currently overseeing one of the first subsidiaries in Libya opened by a UAE contractor.

We will also welcome Kenneth Reisenfeld, a partner at major US law firm Patton Boggs from Washington DC. His work in international arbitration is notably extensive and exotic and includes having represented claims before the Iran-US Claims Tribunal.

So this year’s Construction Week conference appears to be set against a background of optimism, rather than the uncertainty of 2009. However, what is different this time is the sober and balanced approach taken to risk, and a welcome emphasis on planning.

I think this is reflected by an high presence of law firms this year, and the importance that lawyers will play in new markets with evolving legal systems will be paramount.

As for planning, it was prolific American inventor Thomas Edison, the man who, among other things, created the world's first industrial research lab, who said that, ‘good fortune is what happens when opportunity meets with planning’. It’s a point we would do well to remember it as we endeavor to explore new frontiers.

Oscar Wendel is the conference manager for Construction Week.