Strickland signs, and Ohio joins water pact: Key assent needed from Pa., Congress
Jim Provance, The Blade, Toledo, Ohio
Jun. 28--COLUMBUS -- Ohio yesterday became the sixth state to fully join an unprecedented club united in opposition to diversion of Great Lakes water outside the region.
The signing of the long-delayed Great Lakes-St. Lawrence River Basin Water Resources Compact leaves only Pennsylvania and Michigan on the outside looking in.
The water diversion compact had been held up in Ohio over a private property rights dispute. Ultimately, a compromise was struck that will allow voters to decide on Nov. 4 whether to write into the Ohio Constitution private property water rights that have been recognized
in court decisions.
"Through the compact, we will have the ability to maintain our precious natural resources and preserve and protect Lake Erie for generations to come," said Mr. Strickland. He plans to mark the event with a ceremonial bill-signing with state and federal officials on
July 7 at the Marblehead Lighthouse.
It's only a matter of time before Michigan joins the club. Both chambers of its legislature have ratified the agreement, and Gov. Jennifer Granholm is expected to sign it.
But in Pennsylvania, only one chamber of the General Assembly has acted.
The pact, which involves two Canadian provinces, won't become binding until all eight Great Lakes states have signed on and Congress has ratified it.
Jack Shaner, spokesman for the Ohio Environmental Council, applauded the governor's action, but said tougher work lies ahead.
"It was a no-brainer to erect a legal wall against the export of water, but the kicker was the use and conservation of the water within the drainage basin," he said. "That's the sleeper, and we've only just seen the first volley in many battles to come."
Ohio will eventually have to enact a plan on how it would specifically operate within the compact's general framework. For instance, one decision ahead will be whether to increase the amount of water that businesses within the watershed may draw before requiring a permit.
"The minimum threshold is 100,000 gallons or less a day," said Rep. Matt Dolan (R., Novelty), sponsor of the compact legislation. "We'll take a look at whether that threshold makes sense. There's a strong argument that it doesn't."
Related article
Monday, June 30, 2008
Great lakes Initiative
ProInversión board to okay Pisco-Lurín pipeline contract - Peru
The board of Peru's state agency for promoting private investment ProInversión is due to greenlight on July 1 the concession award for the Pisco-Lurín multipurpose pipeline, an agency official told BNamericas.
ProInversión announced in February it had awarded local company Graña y Montero and Germany's Oiltanking the concession to build and operate the pipeline.
Contract signing would follow on July 3 and work such as the EIS would begin, the official said.
The US$70mn project includes a pipeline that will run 300km from a pumping station in Pisco province, Ica department, to a storage and dispatch plant near Lurín in Lima department. LPG and other derivatives currently are transported by ship and truck.
Construction of the pipeline, station and plant will take 30 months once the EIS has been approved.
The ProInversión board is made up of seven ministers - including those of energy and mines, and economy & finance - and a chairman.
Friday, June 27, 2008
CG/LA's First Infrastructure Lab
The first Infrastructure Lab will take place on Monday June 30th from 11am-1pm in our offices. We have confirmed our first project and we will host one of the top strategic infrastructure projects in Nicaragua, the Port of Monkey Point. The sponsor of this project, The Empresa Nacional Portuaria, is looking to meet and discuss project needs and opportunities with executive officials from the Financial as well as Engineering, Procurement and Construction Sector.
Emerging markets infrastructure spending to surge
Merrill Lynch has raised its annual infrastructure spending forecast for emerging markets by 80% on the back of increased government spending, especially in China, the Middle East and Russia.
Merrill Lynch has raised its emerging markets infrastructure forecast to $2.25 trillion annually, or 5% of GDP, from $1.25 trillion over the next three years, due to more aggressive government spending programmes and higher analyst estimates.
Infrastructure spending – which Merrill Lynch calls a long-term solution to inflation – is expected to be fuelled by decades of under-investment in power, transportation, and water. Merrill Lynch expects 70% of infrastructure spending to be concentrated in China, the Middle East and Russia.
“The higher forecast is due to more aggressive government spending and higher analyst estimates,” Merrill Lynch says in a report.
To give an example of the infrastructure spending in the pipeline, Merrill Lynch notes that Xstrata recently estimated $22 trillion in emerging markets infrastructure spending in the next 10 years. Xstrata is a global diversified mining group, listed on the London and Swiss stock exchanges. “That estimate is among the highest that we have seen, with an implied run rate of $6.6 trillion over the next three years,” the report says.
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Thursday, June 26, 2008
Wednesday, June 25, 2008
Euro Cup Sheds New Light On Turkish Possibilities
We’ve all heard it before, sports emulate life: the drama, the competition, the long-standing rivalry. This year’s Euro Cup is no different, pitting teams rife with historical tension against one another in the hopes of earning the pride and acknowledgement of their peers and fellow nations—no match being more anticipated or loaded than tonight’s match of Turkey vs. Germany.
As a team on the edge of what is constantly being geographically contested as Europe, Turkey’s performance in this year’s Cup bears more significance than other nation in its place. Since it’s original move to enter the European community, no other country can claim the same ups and downs in bureaucratic success, constantly pushing forward for acceptance into the European community, only to be met with constant questioning and setbacks. Despite it’s huge economic success of annual GDP growth of over 6% and the second largest military force of NATO, many EU nations, notably France and Austria, still hesitate to welcome Turkey into the European Union as a full member, instead vying for associate status. While policy consistently wavers and changes, Turkey itself continues to improve both quality-of-life for its citizens as well as amending its laws to abide by EU standards. With companies like Invest in Turkey (CG/LA 1st Global Infrastructure Leadership Sponsor) promoting growth and investments in manufacturing, pipelines and agricultural industries, Turkey continues to develop at staggering rates that demand attention and respect.
Their admittance into the Euro Cup alone demonstrates massive progress in being accepted as a legitimate European player—regardless of whether it’s in a political or sports arena. While French President Nicholas Zarkosy’s claim that “not all countries have a vocation to become members of Europe, beginning with Turkey which has no place inside the European Union," this year’s Turkish team, now competing against Germany in the semifinals, has proven that they have not only earned a place in Europe, but that they belong there as well.
Oil Drops More Than $4 After Supply Gains First Time in 6 Weeks
By Mark Shenk
June 25 (Bloomberg) -- Crude oil fell more than $4 a barrel after a U.S. government report showed that inventories rose for the first time in six weeks.
Inventories gained 803,000 barrels to 301.8 million last week, the Energy Department said. A 1.1 million-barrel drop was forecast by analysts in a Bloomberg News survey. Fuel demand averaged 20.2 million barrels a day in the past four weeks, down 2.3 percent from a year earlier, the report showed.
``There's no question that high prices are having an impact on driving patterns and gasoline demand,'' said Rick Mueller, director of oil practice at Energy Security Analysis Inc. in Wakefield, Massachusetts. ``We had a nice crude-oil build and the market is responding as it should.''
Crude oil for August delivery declined $4.08, or 3 percent, to $132.92 a barrel at 12:50 p.m. on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Prices, which reached a record $139.89 on June 16, have almost doubled from a year ago.
Gasoline for July delivery fell 11.02 cents, or 3.2 percent, to $3.3533 a gallon in New York. Futures reached a record $3.5762 a gallon on June 16.
Tuesday, June 24, 2008
Los campeones de La Infraestructura - América Economía
Para Norman F. Anderson, presidente de la empresa CG/LA Infraestructura Strategy Group, existen “grandes” perspectivas para que América Latina ocupe el lugar que merece. “Durante los últimos cinco años, Latinoamérica ha crecido a un promedio de un 5 por ciento. Para recuperar el tiempo perdido, la región debe triplicar sus inversiones en infraestructura para continuar por este camino ascendente”, dijo Anderson.
Brasil y México jugarán un rol privilegiado en la agenda de inversiones en infraestructura de los próximos tres años, con el sector de energía liderando las prioridades, según el último reporte de la consultora Merrill Lynch, que acaba de elevar fuertemente sus pronósticos de gasto en infraestructura para los mercados emergentes.
La agresiva política de inversiones anunciadas respectivamente por los gobiernos de ambos países y una mayor estimación de los analistas hicieron que la consultora elevara su pronóstico de inversiones un 20% para Brasil (de US$ 180 mil millones a US$ 225 mil millones); y un 50% en México (de US$ 60 mil millones a US$ 120 mil millones), para el próximo trienio.
En su análisis del sector, los analistas de Merrill estimaron que el colapso financiero en Estados Unidos tendrá un impacto “limitado” en la inversión, ya que el 75% de las inversiones han sido anunciadas y promovidas por el sector público.
Reflejando los anuncios de inversión realizados por el gobierno de Lula da Silva, en el denominado Plan de Crecimiento Acelerado (PAC), la consultora pronostica que en Brasil la inversión estará focalizada principalmente en los sectores de energía (100 mil millones, el 55% del total) y agua y alcantarillado (60 mil millones, el 33% del total).
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Points South: Into Africa - Brazilian Construction Firms Look East
by c.j.schexnayder
The expanse of the South Atlantic has separated Brazil and Africa for billions of years but an effort to bridge the gap has been gaining speed in recently. Over the last five years a number of Brazilian construction firms have been aggressively seeking out opportunities in countries across the African continent.
Africa, the Brazilians believe, is primed for a major burst of infrastructure development and they are aiming to get in on the ground floor. Their experience working in the developing regions of Latin America is a key element of their strategy. Managing the risks of such operations is par for the course to them.
In the past five years the economic reforms in Libya have made significant headway toward reintegrating the country into the international fold. With the eighth largest oil reserves in the world the skyrocketing price of the commodity has filled the country’s coffers - almost 95 percent of the country’s $40.47 billion in exports is oil. That largess has allowed several
major infrastructure projects to move forward.
As part of this effort, Libyan dictator Muammar al-Gaddafi has unveiled a number of major infrastructure projects to be financed by the country’s growing financial largess. And Brazilian construction firms have been on hand to build them.
According to the IDB, Libya’s economy is expected to grow 8.8 percent this year - up from 6.8 percent in 2007. Last year the government pledged $126 billion for upgrading infrastructure and expanding building material production.
One of the biggest ticket items has been the $2.1 billion international airport in Tripoli that was awarded last August to a consortium which includes Brazilian construction giant Odebrecht. The 350,000 square-meter terminal building will have a capacity for 20 million passengers and serve 100 airplanes simultaneously when completed in 2010.
The airport job is one of several Odebrecht’s new arm in Libya has undertaken in the last year or so including a highway around Tripoli. The move to enter north Africa was a logical one for the firm said company president Marcelo Odebrecht in an interview with ENR last week.
“Africa and Latin America are, by far, the countries where the most infrastructure work needs to be done,” he said “They represent a huge opportunity for companies ready to handle the challenges.”
The decision to open operations in Libya is a move to become involved with that country’s development efforts from the start but also an ideal way to increase the company’s presence on the continent. Currently, Odebrecht has operations in five African countries.
Another of Brazil’s largest construction firms, Construtora Camargo Correa, has been aggressive in making inroads to the African market. Targeting the Portuguese-speaking African countries of Mozambique and Angola, the firm has undertaken a variety of infrastructure projects over the past five years.
Earlier this year the company won a $3.2 billion contract to build the 1.5 GW Mphanda Nkuwa dam in Mozambique as well as the 1,400 kilometer transmission network linking the central region of the country to the capital Maputo. A job that doubles the company’s presence in the region.
Brazilian construction firm Queiroz Galvão is also getting involved. The firm arrived in Libya last year and has already tied up four infrastructure contracts valued at about $500 million. The Rio de Janeiro-based firm says it’s targeting works in the area of water supply, sewage, draining, public lighting, telephony, road building and urbanism.
The outreach by these firms hasn’t been by accident. For several years business and government leaders have been working on seeking out new markets – a strategy that dovetails nicely with the countrys overall efforts to build ties with Africa.
The Brazilian government’s foreign trade policy has pushed stronger ties with developing countries as a way to offset the traditional dependence on developed countries – particularly the United States.
For example, Brazilian president Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva toured five Arab countries in 2003 when Brazil’s exports to those nations stood at $2.5 billion. Last year, Brazil’s exports to those countries had ballooned 180 percent to $7 billion.
And those overtures are being reciprocated. As recently as last month, representatives of the African Development Bank (AfDB) made public overturesto Brazilian firms interested in taking part in their continent’s infrastructure boom. The bank is looking for support for a series of
mega-projects including dams and roads across Africa.
Brazil and Argentina are the only South American countries represented as partners in the bank, which operates the financing projects of African governments and mediates the relationship between private enterprises.
Up for lease: Alligator Alley
By Lloyd Dunkenberger
H-T Capital Bureau
Privatization Possibilities:
What: Alligator Alley is a 78-mile toll road running between Naples and Fort Lauderdale. It may become the first state roadway to be leased to a private company.
Possible deal: In exchange for a 50- or 75-year lease, the state Department of Transportation will receive a cash payment that would be used for other road projects.
Co$t$ to driver$: One preliminary estimate showed the $2.50 one-day toll rate rising to $10 on Alligator Alley by the lease's 10th year.
Who is interested: Eight consortiums, all with foreign partners, have expressed an interest in the Alligator Alley lease. They include companies from Spain, France, Italy, Portugal and Australia, along with some major American investment firms, including JPMorgan, Carlyle Infrastructure Partners and Goldman Sachs. One Spanish company, Cintra (Concesiones de Infraestructuras de Transporte), has secured lease contracts for major roadways in Illinois and Indiana.
Timetable: Under the DOT's timetable, the state will select a "short list" later this summer of the consortiums interested in the lease and then ask those companies to submit a detailed bid proposal. Those proposals would be due by Sept. 30, with the DOT picking a winner in October. The lease deal would be subject to approval by a legislative panel, with the agreement expected to be completed by the end of the year.
Monday, June 23, 2008
Special Report: China In Africa (Part 3) Zambia: China's Mine Shaft
(By Richard Behar - Fastcompany.com)
I ask Xiao Ye, an Africa statistical researcher for the World Bank, whether a clear chart or table exists laying out the full extent of China's economic involvement in Africa. "I don't know anyone who has done such a thing," he responds. "As far as I know, China no longer releases [its] foreign direct investment to Africa country by country." Or as Lucy Corkin, the China-Africa think-tank expert, explains, "You've got Africa, the big black hole of data, and China, the big black hole of data -- put the two of them together and it's a disaster."
That opacity makes it hard to know how much control China's Communist Party has over events in the sub-Sahara. Anglo-American's Clem Sunter maintains that the party Politburo "can be likened to the board of the biggest multinational company in the world." To keep that company growing, the Chinese government has vowed, for example, to transform the city of Chongqing into a megalopolis -- the "Chicago of the East" -- by 2020, making urbanites of some 12 million farmers. The problem is, there aren't yet jobs for 12 million peasants in Chongqing. So the Politburo is urging some of them to move overseas. "To convince the farmers to become landlords abroad," says Li Ruogu, the head of China's Export-Import Bank, his office will provide capital, project development, and "product-selling channels." More than 13,000 Chinese have arrived in Africa from Chongqing alone.
Read complete articleCorn Products International sold for $4.4 billion
(AP) NEW YORK -- Agriculture heavyweight Bunge Ltd. will buy Corn Products International Inc. in a stock deal worth about $4.4 billion, the company said Monday.
Two of the nation's oldest agricultural businesses would become one in the deal, in which Bunge would also assume $414 million of Corn Products' debt. Corn Products shares climbed almost 24 percent on word of the deal.
Bioplastics: Thinking outside of the Tupperware
by Mara Der Hovanesian (Businessweek:I Have Just One Word for You: Bioplastics)
The scourge of indestructible garbage and sky-high oil are fueling interest in plastics from plants. Is it time for tiny biotech Metabolix to get more respect on Wall Street?
For half of his life and all of his 25-year career as a bioengineer, Oliver P. Peoples has wanted to prove two things: that he could reengineer plants to grow biodegradable plastic in their cells and that he could make a lot of money doing it.
On the first goal, Peoples has had astonishing success. His Cambridge (Mass.) company, Metabolix (MBLX), has harnessed the complex genetics of plant-cell metabolism and collected hundreds of patents on a process for manufacturing "bioplastics" in large vats of microbes. A $200million factory is under construction and could start producing Metabolix's bioplastic, called Mirel, early next year. But Peoples' second mission, amassing wealth for himself and his investors, is glaringly incomplete. Mauled in the bear market and pounded by manufacturing delays, Metabolix's shares have spiraled down from a peak of 28 last November to around 11 in recent weeks.
"Almost 30million tons a year of plastic solid waste is dumped into the U.S., and about 5% is recycled."
Friday, June 20, 2008
Beijing Unveils Traffic Plan for reducing Traffic during the Olympics
BEIJING–Beijing will pull half its 3.3 million vehicles off the roads during the Olympics, betting the move, plus a stringent ban on construction and heavy industry, will clean the city's noxious air when the games open in seven weeks.
Under the temporary plan announced Friday, vehicles will be allowed on the roads on alternate days – according to even or odd car registration numbers – from July 20 until Sept. 20.
Alcoa, Shell Want Climate Plan, Global Carbon Limits
June 20 (Bloomberg) -- Alcoa Inc., Royal Dutch Shell Plc and 97 other companies are urging world leaders to devise a plan for fighting global warming by setting greenhouse-gas targets for all nations and creating an international carbon market.
A new climate-change treaty is needed with incentives to capture and store carbon dioxide and protect forests, the 99 companies said in a statement prepared by the World Economic Forum, a Geneva-based business coalition. The group presented the proposals today to Japanese Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda, who hosts a meeting of the Group of Eight nations next month in Japan.
Oil, power and metal industries are among the biggest emitters of greenhouse gases blamed for global warming. To cut their output in half by 2050, an extra $45 trillion must be invested in clean-air technologies, the Paris-based International Energy Agency said this month. The business group said it wants government guidance on how new climate policies may affect investment decisions.
Thursday, June 19, 2008
Bush-McCain call for Offshore Oil Drilling
Once an oil man, always an oil man. With Gas prices still on the rise, one can't help but wonder what is really being done to alleviate the current crisis affecting millions of Americans and whether or not The President has "Googled" Alternative Energy.
"...Bush talked tough, saying "our nation must produce more oil, and we must start now." He said that expanding drilling offshore could produce enough oil to "match America's current oil production for 10 years."" (ajc.com). Yes, more is always better.
Related articles:
Washington Post
Atlanta Journal
Ontario Teachers and Morgan Stanley unit to buy Chilean power company in $1US.3 billion cash and debt deal
TORONTO - The Ontario Teachers' Pension Plan, looking for solid returns from infrastructure, has joined with a unit of Wall Street brokerage Morgan Stanley in a $1.3 billion deal to acquire Saesa Group, a Chilean power producer and distributor.
The big pension fund, which has one of Canada's largest pools of capital, and Morgan Stanley Infrastructure announced Tuesday they will pay $870US million in cash Saesa and assume more than $400 million in existing company debt.
Saesa fits ''really very solidly into our infrastructure portfolio,'' Stephen Dowd, Teachers' vice-president of infrastructure, said in an interview.
The infrastructure component now makes up about $9.5 billion of the Teachers' $108.5 billion overall fund, he said.
Saesa, the second largest electricity distributor in Chile in terms of geographical coverage, is a subsidiary of Public Service Enterprise Group Inc. , an integrated power company based in New Jersey.
By Eric Shackleton, CP
Pudong Bank, IFC plan energy-efficiency loans
Shanghai Pudong Development Bank, one of China's leading joint-stock banks, will extend 1 billion yuan ($145 million) in loans for energy-efficiency projects under a risk-sharing agreement with the International Finance Corp (IFC).
The IFC, a member of the World Bank Group, signed an agreement on Tuesday to provide the Shanghai Pudong Development Bank with 500 million yuan to help start energy-efficiency loans.
The cooperation will support energy-saving projects that will eliminate 3.5 million tons of carbon dioxide emissions in China annually, the equivalent of taking 250,000 cars off the roads each year, the IFC said.
Monday, June 16, 2008
Plan B 3.0 Available on CG/LA's Store
The CG/LA store continues to support infrastructure education with a second book available for purchase: Plan B 3.0: Mobilizing to Save Civilization (Lester Brown, 2008).
The first to make to the recommendation list, Infrastructure: A Field Guide to the Industrial Landscape by Brian Hayes, is an engaging coffee table tome that surveys infrastructure in its many forms, mostly in the U.S. context. Providing a very different entry point on the matter of infrastructure, Plan B 3.0 outlines an infrastructure platform re-engineered for (sustainable) productivity on a global scale.
Together, the two make surprisingly compatible reads; Infrastructure offer helpful points of reference for the non-engineer, a water distribution system in Winthrop, Massachusetts, for example, or a reclamation facility in Durham, North Carolina. These examples provide context for what Plan B is about - the infrastructure that must support a world that is now more urbanized than not - and must deliver much more in terms of food, water, and energy productivity.
Please check in on the store for additional suggestions that we hope will guide, explain, and entertain. Your feedback is always welcome.
Friday, June 13, 2008
There Will Be Water
(Businessweek - Susan Berfield) T. Boone Pickens thinks water is the new oil—and he's betting $100 million that he's right.
"...If water is the new oil, T. Boone Pickens is a modern-day John D. Rockefeller. Pickens owns more water than any other individual in the U.S. and is looking to control even more. He hopes to sell the water he already has, some 65 billion gallons a year, to Dallas, transporting it over 250 miles, 11 counties, and about 650 tracts of private property. The electricity generated by an enormous wind farm he is setting up in the Panhandle would also flow along that corridor. As far as Pickens is concerned, he could be selling wind, water, natural gas, or uranium; it's all a matter of supply and demand. "There are people who will buy the water when they need it. And the people who have the water want to sell it. That's the blood, guts, and feathers of the thing," he says."
Read complete article
Corn-belt floods sweep aside ethanol hubris
Read complete articleIndia Inflation at 8.75 - Fastest Pace in Seven Years
June 13 (Bloomberg) -- India's inflation accelerated to a seven-year high on soaring commodities and energy prices, stoking speculation the central bank will increase interest rates next month.
Wholesale prices jumped 8.75 percent in the week to May 31, after gaining 8.24 percent in the previous week, the government said in a statement in New Delhi today. Economists surveyed by Bloomberg News predicted an 8.28 percent increase.
The Reserve Bank of India raised the benchmark rate to 8 percent this week, joining central banks in Brazil, China and Russia in increasing borrowing costs to combat inflation even as economic growth slows. Jet Airways (India) Ltd., the nation's largest domestic carrier, and JSW Steel Ltd. said near-record oil prices and other costs are hurting profits.
Thursday, June 12, 2008
Sweden funds environmental projects in China
The Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency provided USD2.1 million to finance initiatives that would improve water management reduce emissions by the pulp- and paper industries in China. The Swedish Environmental Protection Agency is managing the efforts in
(Source: Sweden launches two development projects in China/People’s Daily Online)
Construirá ICA-Cicsa línea 12 del Metro
Obtiene el consorcio Alstom, ICA y Cicsa, esta última propiedad de Carlos Slim, la licitación. Las obras iniciarán el 3 de julio. El consorcio de empresas integradas por Alstom, ICA y Cicsa, esta última propiedad del empresario Carlos Slim, ganaron la licitación para construir la línea 12 del Metro, la cual contará con una inversión de 17 mil 583 millones de pesos.
Este mediodía las autoridades capitalinas, encabezados por el jefe de Gobierno del DF, Marcelo Ebrard, celebraron una reunión para dar a conocer el fallo de la licitación y anunciar que las obras iniciarán el 3 de julio y concluirán el 31 de diciembre de 2011.
En total serán mil 277 días de obras para crear la también llamada Línea Dorada que conectará a Táhuac con Mixcoac en una ruta de 24 kilómetros.
Ricardo García Sáinz, contralor capitalino, anunció ganadores del concurso tras destacar que la propuesta económica y técnica de dicho consorcio ofreció las mejores condiciones para creas la nueva línea del metro, por encima de la empresa FCC construcciones, propiedad de Carlos Hank Rhon.
Ricardo García Sáinz y Marcelo Ebrard destacaron que esta obra en materia de transporte es la inversión mas grande que se realiza en la republica mexicana en esta materia, incluso por otras obras para transporte de pasajeros que realiza el gobierno de la ciudad.
Ebrard también destacó que la línea 12 del Metro será por ende la inversión más grande de su administración, la cual generará un gran numero de empleos sobre todo porque se otorgará el contrato a empresas mexicanas como ICA y Cicsa, cuya denominación es Carso Infraestructura y Construcción.
Alberto Cuenca - El Universal
Ciudad de México
Artículo relacionado: Metro de Santo Domingo - Alstom
Wednesday, June 11, 2008
Tuesday, June 10, 2008
International Financial Corporation (IFC, группа Всемирного Банка) оценила необходимый объем инвестиций в российскую инфраструктуру
Российская инфраструктура в ближайшие десять лет потребует инвестиций в объеме более триллиона долларов. Об этом заявил в воскресенье на ПМЭФ исполнительный вице-президент IFC Ларс Танелл (Lars Thunell), чьи слова приводятся в сообщении IFC.
По словам Ларса Танелла, IFC сделала инвестиции в инфраструктуру своим приоритетом, и глобальный портфель инвестиций IFC в этом секторе достиг 5 миллиардов долларов. "Но потребности в инвестициях намного выше. Только в России в ближайшие 10 лет нужно более триллиона долларов инвестиций в этом секторе. И хотя страна продемонстрировала устойчивый рост за последнее десятилетие, дальнейшее развитие может быть замедлено из-за неразвитости инфраструктуры", - приводятся его слова в пресс-релизе. Он отметил, что инвестиции в инфраструктуру являются критически важным условием для развития и диверсификации таких растущих экономик, как Китай, Индия и Россия.
По данным корпорации, из 2,8 миллиарда долларов общего портфеля инвестиций IFC в России, 10% направлено на инфраструктуру, в частности, в транспорт (железнодорожный, воздушный, водный, логистика), водоснабжение, дороги, здравоохранение и образование. Так, IFC предоставила чувашским властям частичное поручительство по выпуску облигаций для финансирования строительства дорог. IFC также инвестировала в программу реконструкции дорог в Чувашии и в Петропавловске-Камчатском. Кроме того, IFC подписала письмо о намерениях инвестировать 350 миллионов евро в строительство Западного скоростного диаметра в Санкт-Петербурге, который будет первой в России государственно-частной концессией.
Руководство корпорации считает, что частный сектор может сыграть значительную роль в финансировании и развитии инфраструктуры. Для стимулирования участия частного сектора в крупных инфраструктурных проектах необходимо законодательно урегулировать государственно-частные партнерства и сделать правила работы стабильными и предсказуемыми, передает РИА Новости.
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El gasto mundial en armamento militar creció un 6% en 2007
El gasto mundial en armamento militar creció un 6 por ciento hasta los 1,4 billones de dólares (858.000 millones de euros) en 2007, según el informe anual difundido hoy por el Instituto Internacional de Estudios para la Paz de Estocolmo (SIPRI).
Esa cifra se corresponde con el 2,5 por ciento del Producto Interior Bruto mundial y supone un aumento del 45 por ciento desde 1998.
Estados Unidos [sorprendentemente!] encabeza la lista de países que más fondos destinan al armamento con 547.000 millones de dólares, lo que representa un 45 por ciento del volumen total y un 59 por ciento más que en 2001, año en el que se produjo el atentado terrorista contra las Torres Gemelas.
Le siguen Gran Bretaña (59.700 millones de dólares) y China (58.300 millones de dólares), con un 5 por ciento cada uno, Francia y Japón, con un 4; Alemania, Rusia, Arabia Saudí e Italia, con un 3; India y Corea del Sur, con un 2.
España ocupa el puesto 15 con 14.600 millones de dólares, un 1 por ciento del total, el mismo que Brasil, que aparece 3 posiciones antes, con 15.300 millones.
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Chinese M&A Goes Global
Chinese companies spent $31.1 billion on overseas deals as of May 27— more than all of 2007—and the pace isn't likely to slow In the second-largest acquisition ever by a Chinese bank, Shenzhen-based China Merchants Bank on June 3 won the battle for Hong Kong's Wing Lung Bank. The country's sixth-largest lender, China Merchants paid $4.7 billion, or 2.9 times Wing Lung's 2007 book value, to emerge victorious over rival bidders Industrial & Commercial Bank of China (ICBC) and Australia & New Zealand Banking Group.
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Monday, June 9, 2008
Concluye negociación de TLC Colombia-Canadá
Bogotá.- Colombia tendrá acceso al 90% del universo arancelario de Canadá tras concluir las negociaciones de un tratado de libre comercio (TLC), anunció el sábado el ministro de Comercio Luis Guillermo Plata.
Dijo que el tratado hace parte de la agenda comercial de Colombia, que busca tener nueve acuerdos antes del 2010 "con 54 naciones y acceso a más de un billón de consumidores". Las negociaciones entre las dos naciones, que concluyeron la madrugada del sábado, se iniciaron en julio de 2007 en Lima, Perú. Plata indicó que una vez entre en vigencia el TLC, el 97% de bienes industriales ingresará de inmediato al canadiense.
Ricardo Duarte, del equipo negociador colombiano, aseguró que con la firma de este tratado, se espera que las exportaciones colombianas que fueron de unos 266 millones de dólares en 2007, "adquieran un mayor dinamismo".
Canadá importa el 4,5% del total mundial y es el quinto país del mundo por su volumen de comercio y, una de las 10 principales fuentes de inversión extranjera directa.
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EBRD Targets 40% of Russian Lending to Infrastructure in 2008
June 8 (Bloomberg) -- The European Bank of Reconstruction and Development expects to target about 40 percent of its lending in Russia this year to infrastructure as the nation overhauls its aging road and transport networks, President Jean Lemierre said.
The EBRD, based in London, will extend loans of about $1.4 billion for infrastructure projects, including transport and power generation, in Russia in 2008, Lemierre said today in an interview at the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum.
Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin said in May the government is committed to spending $570 billion to develop the country's infrastructure and transport.
Screeching to a Halt: On mass transit, the nation is falling perilously behind.
With San Francisco gas stations already charging $4.50 per gallon of regular and other places not far behind, it's little wonder that the demand for mass transit is surging nationwide. Last year, the 10.3 billion trips taken on U.S. public transportation -- trains, subways, buses -- were the most in 50 years, according to the American Public Transportation Association. And ridership continued to jump in the first three months of 2008, particularly on light rail (streetcars and trolleys) and commuter rail lines.
The rush to mass transit is accentuating what has been plain for years -- that America's investment in its public transportation infrastructure is glaringly, perilously inadequate. The gasoline tax, which provides the main source of transportation and transit revenue, has not been increased since 1993. As a funding source it is being dangerously eroded by inflation and Americans' decreased driving mileage.
Friday, June 6, 2008
Utilities Owning, Buying More Wind, Planning for Carbon Regulations
by Carl Levesque, American Wind Energy Association
Utilities are increasingly embracing wind -- owning their own facilities, buying wind-generated electricity from other producers, and even factoring future carbon regulation into their financial equations, said expert participants on a utility panel at WINDPOWER 2008.
Speaking on the panel were Mike Kotara, executive vice president of energy development at wind power-leading municipal utility CPS Energy; Andy Hesselbach, wind farm project manager at utility We Energies; Galen Barbose of the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory; and Matthew Kaplan of Emerging Energy Research.
As representatives of two different kinds of utilities, Hesselbach and Kotara were able to offer perspectives on the reasons behind their differing wind forays. As a municipal utility, noted Kotara, CPS Energy cannot take advantage of the federal production tax credit and so has no plans to pursue ownership of wind facilities. CPS, however, is the leading municipal utility for delivering wind to its customers; the utility had 501 megawatts (MW) of wind on its wires as of the end of 2007, thanks to its purchases of the renewable energy source.
Thursday, June 5, 2008
Petrobras Contracts 12 Rigs
Petrobras' board approved the contracting of 12 drilling rigs on a charter party basis for use inultra-deepwaters (between 2,400 and 3,000 meters of water depth).
Of the 12 rigs to be contracted, 10 will be the property of Brazilian companies. Due to the lack of capacity in Brazilian shipyards, the 12 rigs will be built overseas and delivered for operationby the middle of 2012.
These 12 units are part of the first phase of the plan for contracting 40 drilling rigs all of which will be operational by 2017, as already announced. The next lot of rigs are to be built in Brazil, implying major investments in infrastructure to ensure that Brazilian industry has the capacity to compete in price and quality, manufacturing the equipment in accordance with the international standards required by the leading oil and gas companies.
The forecasted investments are part of Petrobras' exploratory portfolio and production development. They are a key element in the implementation of initiatives that will guarantee growth in the production of oil and natural gas as envisaged in the Company's Strategic Plan.
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Wednesday, June 4, 2008
Bolivia Seizes Gas Pipeline From Shell, Ashmore
June 2 (Bloomberg) -- Bolivian President Evo Morales nationalized Bolivia's main gas pipeline company, expanding his control over the Andean country's natural resources one day after losing two regional referendums on his rule.
Morales issued a decree seizing the majority stake in Transredes Transporte de Hidrocarburos SA owned by Europe's Royal Dutch Shell Plc and Ashmore Energy International. Bolivia's state energy company held 47 percent. Morales said Transredes ``conspired'' against his government and rejected talks aimed at giving Bolivia control of the company.
Today's move is the latest by Morales to fulfill campaign pledges to ``re-found'' Bolivia by taking over energy and mining companies and directing more tax revenue from provinces to the treasury. The government forced oil companies to renegotiate contracts in 2006 and last year seized Glencore International AG's tin smelter. The actions have helped fuel discontent among business groups and provincial leaders.
The Trillion Dollar Upgrade: China & India
China and India are spending an unprecedented $1.5 trillion on infrastructure projects in the next five years, approaching the level of US infrastructure spending for the first time, according to investor reports published today which identify the full scale of expenditure for the first time.
The comparison with the US, which spends $400 billion on infrastructure annually, is particularly striking given the big difference in national wealth. US gross domestic product in 2007 was $46 trillion compared to China's $3.6 trillion and India's $1.05 trillion.
Agence France-Presse reports that the Asian Development Bank hasearmarked USD1 billion for clean energy programs in 2008
Clean energy initiatives in Asia will earn more funding from the primary development institution in the region. "We launched our energy efficiency initiative about three years ago and set targets for increasing our investments in clean energy to one billion dollars per year starting 2008," Asian Development Bank vice-president for sustainable development Ursula Schafer-Preuss said during a forum that the ADB and the U.S. Agency for International Development have organized. Aside from energy efficiency schemes, the bank, according to ADB senior energy specialist Sohail Hasnie, has taken interest in solar, wind and ocean wave power.
Tuesday, June 3, 2008
Tangshan Considers Share Sale for $29 Billion Project
June 3 (Bloomberg) -- Tangshan, the city flattened in China's 1976 earthquake, may sell shares to help finance a $29 billion industrial park, the centerpiece of the nation's largest land-reclamation project.
Ownership of the Caofeidian Industrial Zone, including a port, may be transferred to two city-owned investment companies that would then offer stock to local or overseas investors, Xue Boxun, the project's deputy director, said in an interview last week.
``We are looking for the quickest way to go public,'' Xue said. He didn't give a timetable for completing a stock sale.
Tangshan, the site of China's deadliest earthquake, is seeking to reduce its reliance on state loans after the central bank pushed borrowing costs to a decade-high. Caofeidian burns through almost $12 million a day at what managers call ``the biggest construction site in China,'' where an area almost twice the size of Manhattan has been reclaimed from the sea.
Rio Tinto Says U.S. Must Spend Billions for Clean-Coal Devices
June 2 (Bloomberg) -- Rio Tinto Group and U.S. utilities are urging the government to spend $20 billion on a technology they say has the best chance for eliminating pollution linked to global warming.
The energy companies are lobbying Congress to help create devices that can trap carbon dioxide from coal-fired power plants and bury the gas in underground caverns. Environmental groups, labor unions and members of Congress from coal states say pilot projects won't begin without U.S. support that is unlikely to come this year.
As the Senate today begins debating the first U.S. curbs on greenhouse gases blamed for climate change, coal companies say they won't provide most of the money for capture-and-storage technology. The industry has spent ``tens of millions of dollars,'' on development, and it's too costly for companies alone to finance, said Rio Tinto Chief Executive Officer for Energy Preston Chiaro.
Monday, June 2, 2008
Macquarie Plans to Double Canadian Infrastructure Investments
By Frederic Tomesco
May 30 (Bloomberg) -- Macquarie Group Ltd., Australia's biggest investment bank, plans to double its Canadian infrastructure holdings to at least C$8 billion ($8.1 billion) in the next five years to take advantage of a building boom.
Macquarie, based in Sydney, will consider buying or leasing existing infrastructure assets as well as building new ones, Gregory Smith, who heads the Canadian division of Macquarie Capital Funds, said in an interview yesterday. Smith declined to identify specific projects.
TICAD IV / Fukuda outlines 'Century of African Growth'
The Yomiuri Shimbun
The Fourth Tokyo International Conference on African Development (TICAD IV) was held in Yokohama from Wednesday to Friday with the participation of heads of state or government and other representatives of African countries. The participants delivered wide-ranging speeches on a host of issues aimed at accelerating Africa's development. The Daily Yomiuri has selected the following excerpts of Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda's opening speech in this one-page supplement.
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