Page 24 - ARUBA TODAY

Monday 10 april 2017 BUSINESS
A24

Insider Q&A: Salini Impregilo CEO on US infrastructure plan

COLLEEN BARRY ments. Obviously a com-
Associated Press MILAN plete plan takes time, to
(AP) — Italian engineering give a series of indications
and construction firm Salini of where principally to in-
Impregilo is ready to make vest. It also remains to be
the most of the Trump ad- seen what is meant by
ministration’s planned $1 maintenance and renova-
trillion spending bonanza tion. One of the character-
on renewing the nation’s istics of the United States
infrastructure. is that it is a country that
With its purchase last year invested before others in
of Lane Construction, infrastructure, and hav-
based in Cheshire, Con- ing invested before others,
necticut, the Italian firm today its infrastructure is
gets a valid U.S. passport to old. As it is also in Europe.
bid on American projects. But while Europe doesn’t
While Lane gives Salini Im- seem to be aware of this,
pregilo important inroads the United States is feeling
into American infrastruc- constrained because their
ture, Salini Impregilo’s ex- economy is growing.
pertise in hydropower and Q. Have you included the
tunneling projects, as seen Trump spending promises
in the Panama Canal ex- in your plans?
tension, adds new sectors. A. No, we haven’t factored Salini-Impregilo CEO Pietro Salini poses in his office in Milan, Italy. Italian engineering and
CEO Pietro Salini, who has that in yet. But seeing the construction firm Salini Impregilo’s purchase of the U.S. company Lane Construction
been guiding the family- speed at which the Trump completed in 2016 has fundamentally shifted the company’s global orientation into a
owned, publicly traded administration makes deci- more domestic U.S. role as it seeks to grow in more stable markets.
business through a period sion, I expect it very soon. (AP Photo/Luca Bruno)
of expansion, spoke to The Our business plan foresaw Q. When you consider bid- any government. We only market and a sector where
Associated Press before a the market that existed. ding on projects, do you do works that are useful for we can bring a big added
trip to the United States to Q. Are you bidding on also take into consideration people. value. There are around
feel out U.S. President Don- the wall that Trump has the ethics, if it is something Q. Considering Salini Impre- 14,000 dams in the United
ald Trump’s plans. pledged to build along the good for the world? gilo’s expertise with dams, States that need interven-
Q. Have you seen Trump’s border with Mexico? A. We reflect a lot on what have you looked at pos- tion or maintenance, be-
plans and do you know A. Walls are not our special- we do, on what is the mis- sible interventions at the cause they are old. ... In
where to concentrate your ty. We make bridges, more sion of the company. ... Oroville Dam in California the United States, every-
initial bids? than walls. Our specialty is The mission is to realize that recently threatened to thing is insured, so if a dam
A. He made the first state- ways of communications: work that is useful for peo- collapse, forcing the evac- collapses today, imagine
water, energy, roads. We ple. We don’t do symbolic uation of nearly 200,000 the damages beyond the
are more involved with works, or works that repre- people? loss of life — the economic
these things. sent any political party or A. It is a very interesting damage like houses, jobs,

US gas prices rise 9 cents over
2 weeks, up to $2.43 a gallon

CAMARILLO, Calif. (AP) — prices to climb a few more
The average price of a gal- cents.
lon of regular-grade gaso- The national average is up
line rose 9 cents nationally 33 cents per gallon over
over the past two weeks, to the price a year ago.
$2.43. Gas in San Francisco was
Industry analyst Trilby Lun- the highest in the contigu-
dberg said Sunday that in- ous United States at an
creased oil prices and the average of $3.01 a gal-
U.S. missile strike on a Syrian lon Friday. The lowest was
air base contributed to the in Jackson, Mississippi, at
rise. $2.09 per gallon.
She says that unless oil pric- The U.S. average diesel
es retreat quickly, consum- price is $2.58, up 1 cent
ers should expect gasoline from two weeks ago.