n Global
constructionmanagement.co.uk
Taking off into turbulence
Hill International is one of America’s largest construction consultants. As the US continues to grapple with the pandemic, CEO Raouf Ghali talks to David Rogers about the potential impact of the US’s $1.2tn bipartisan infrastructure bill
merica’s politicians have finally addressed the issue of crumbling infrastructure. The American Society of Civil Engineers estimates that an extra $3tn needs to be spent over the next 10 years to modernise the country’s transportation, power and water systems, and $1.2tn of that was provided by last November’s Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act. Raouf Ghali, chief executive of Hill International, which provides construction and programme management services in the US and around the world, says this is a big turnaround after the Trump administration’s failure to keep its
A
With the exception of industrial, new procurement was non-existent in 2020 and we suffered headwinds in the first two quarters of 2021, then we saw a lot of activity Raouf Ghali, Hill International
funding promises, which disrupted the infrastructure investment process. By contrast, President Biden’s act has been well received by the industry, which is now waiting to find out how the headline figure will be converted into individual projects. “If the government wants the money to be disbursed quickly, it may be put into extensions and additions to the scope of existing contracts rather than doing whole new procurements,” Ghali says. “But even so we’re not going to really see the money flowing through communities until the latter part of 2022.” The federal money, which will be increased 20-30% by local governments, will add $284bn to surface transportation spending, of which $110bn will go on roads and bridges, $66bn on rail and $42bn on air and sea ports. Here, Hill stands to benefit from a number of projects, such as its role on the Amtrak Gateway programme to upgrade the US’s busiest rail corridor between Newark in New Jersey and Penn Station in New
Hill International chief executive Raouf Ghali
Raouf Ghali CV l Joined Hill International in 1993 l CEO since 2018 l President and COO, 2015-2018 l President of Hill’s Project Management Group (International), 2005-2015 l Senior VP, 2001-2004, and VP, 1993-2001. l BS in Business Administration/ Economics, MS in Business Organisational Management from the University of LaVerne
York City. Ghali adds that aviation is also likely to be a hot sector. What no one has worked out yet is what happens when this big increase in demand hits longstanding capacity constraints in the labour market and supply chains. As head of a professional services business, Ghali is sanguine about this for now. He says the rash of consolidations in the US consultancy sector had led to cuts in payrolls, which will make recruitment easier than it might have been for the coming year. Beyond 2022, however, even consultancies will have to work harder to staff their new and expanded projects. Industrial booms while retail falters The pandemic also brought a sweeping change in construction markets. The shift to home working and online shopping combined to hit the commercial sectors. “Demand for shops and offices has changed tremendously,” Ghali says. “I think there’s going to be a lot of revaluation and repositioning of assets on those two fronts. The Amazons of this world are shooting up and I’ve never
38 | CONSTRUCTION MANAGEMENT FEBRUARY 2022
38_39.CM.Feb22.global_scW.indd 38
18/01/2022 15:20
