FIDIC Asia Pacific Newsletter

FIDICAsia Pacific
NEWSLETTER
March 2016

1

FIDIC Asia Pacific Newsletter
Contents
Australia - Consult Australia

3China - T he Chinese Association ofEngineering Consultants (CAEC)

6

Indonesia - T he National Associationof Indonesian Consultants

8

Japan - Association of Japanese
Consulting Engineers (AJCE)

10

New Zealand - Association of Consulting
Engineers New Zealand122

FIDIC Asia Pacific Newsletter
Australia - Consult Australia

Federal Election2016 ideas

for infrastructure"Infrastructure spending has a role to play in sustaining growth and also ingenerating confidence. […] it would be confidence-enhancing if there was anagreed story about a long-term pipeline of infrastructure projects, surroundedby appropriate governance on project selection, risk-sharing between public andprivate sectors at varying stages of production and ownership, and appropriate
pricing for use of the finished product. […] The real economy would benefit fromthe steady pipeline of construction work – |as opposed to a boom and bust. It
would also benefit from confidence about improved efficiency of logistics overtime resulting from the better infrastructure."
Glenn Stevens – Governor, Reserve Bank of Australia. Brisbane. 10 June 2015

As we approach the 2016 Federal Election, the need for new ideas and fresh thinking to stimulate productivity, jobs andgrowth is increasingly acute.
With the GST off the table and negative gearing reforms sparking opposition in industry and government, real tax andfederation reform looks set to become a political plaything for yet another Parliamentary term. With no real solution
to the looming challenges of health and education spending demands across the states and territories, it is becoming
increasingly apparent that candidates for election are going to need some more meaningful policies to build theircredibility with the electorate.
Off the back of the Australian Infrastructure Plan, new opportunities to invest in and deliver productivity-boosting
infrastructure may herald the greatest policy and economic opportunities for the country.
Our infrastructure networks provide access to employment, facilitate social inclusion, and allow our cities to grow.
Transport infrastructure alone moves 520 billion tonne kms of freight each year, supplying Australia’s industry, enabling
export revenues, and supporting our economy.
An increasing infrastructure deficit demands ongoing investment, particularly in, near, and between our major cities.

We believe that increased infrastructure investment that improves economic capacity and productivity
must be the first policy response to the challenges arising from increasing congestion and declining qualityof life across Australia.

3

FIDIC Asia Pacific Newsletter
Australia - Consult Australia

Consult Australia’s focus in the lead-up to the 2016 Federal Election is on opportunities to plan and deliver
the infrastructure for the future with a focus on maximising value for money outcomes and productivity
benefits for the taxpayer.
Our Federal Election platform, to be released in the coming weeks will focus on six principal areas:

1

BETTER AND FAIRER WAYS OF PAYING FOR INFRASTRUCTURE
Taxes are no longer enough to pay for the infrastructure we need to maintain our high standard of living.
We need to consider new and improved funding mechanisms, such as fairer, cost-reflective road pricing,ongoing asset recycling and value capture. We must separate decisions to invest in new productivityboosting infrastructure from politicised arguments about debt and deficit.

2

 STABLISHING AN INFRASTRUCTURE INNOVATION FUND TO SUPPORTEAN INVESTMENT READY PROJECT PIPELINE
Consult Australia recommends a dedicated innovation fund, separated from pre-determined infrastructure
projects, to support the development of new investment-ready infrastructure through: feasibility studies,
community engagement and public participation, business case development, cost-benefit analysis(including assessments of wider economic benefits) and environmental impact analysis.

3

PREPARING AN INFRASTRUCTURE & NEW TECHNOLOGIES STRATEGY
It is critical that we plan early to maximise the benefits brought by changes in technology, and ensure thatthe infrastructure we are planning today is positioned to accommodate new models for passenger andfreight movement, changes in consumer behaviour and new markets for services that have not existed
previously.

4

BUILDING MORE FOR LESS THROUGH IMPROVED PROCUREMENT
At a time when public finances are stretched, better procurement offers government the chance to build
more for less, while also developing a better relationship with its industry partners. Successive Consult
Australia reports have come up with a range of recommendations to improve procurement that offer
significant savings and better value for money outcomes for all governments if implemented.

5I NCENTIVISING INTEGRATED STRATEGIC PLANNING TO SUPPORT MORE
PRODUCTIVE, LIVEABLE AND SUSTAINABLE COMMUNITIESIt is essential that governments support longer-term planning goals in consultation with business and thecommunity. All governments have a responsibility to support decision making and community consultationthat provides for and delivers integrated planning, land-use and infrastructure. At a national level this canbe supported with a national spatial policy and plan to provide an overarching framework.

6DEVELOPING A FULLY FUNDED NATIONAL FREIGHT STRATEGY
Much of our existing freight networks are victims of long-term underinvestment or a lack of integrated
strategic planning. For example, governments have proved often reluctant to commit to funding rail freight
infrastructure where the greatest benefits of what is a substantial investment will only be seen in the longterm beyond any relevant political cycle.

4FIDIC Asia Pacific Newsletter
Australia - Consult Australia

Consult Australia is excited by the cross-party commitment to infrastructure as a critical productivity
lever for growth. We are looking forward to working across the Federal Parliament, and with candidates
around Australia, to advocate for our priorities above which we are confident will deliver the productivity
we need to boost our competitiveness, grow the economy and create new jobs.
Look out for our Federal Election Campaign for 2016, to be released in the coming weeks, and stay tuned as
we take our recommendations forward in the months ahead.

28-29 April 2016
Consult Australia’s 2016 ASPAC CEO Conference provides a unique
networking platform for the top echelons of the major consultingand engineering firms in the Asia Pacific region.
Designed as an exclusive forum for CEOs and senior business leaders
within the industry, this invitation-only event provides an opportunity
for insightful debate and discussion between peers from over 25 nationsin the region.
www.consultaustralia.com.au/ceo-conference/5

FIDIC Asia Pacific Newsletter
China - T he Chinese Association of Engineering
Consultants (CAEC)

2015 Engineering Innovation
Competition for College Students
Projects around the world are getting bigger and more complex, hence driving the need for civil engineers
to be equipped with more skill sets beyond the normal technical abilities.
With this in mind, CAEC decided to carry out a competition for college students with three objectives:
1. To encourage students to think out of the box for creative solutions.
2. To encourage civil engineering students to work with students of other disciplines/majors.
3. To have industry practitioners to guide students on the practicality of their solutions.
In coordination with IEET (Institute of Engineering Education Taiwan) and CICHE (Chinese Institute ofCivil and Hydraulic Engineering), CAEC thus held the nationwide competition for college students in 2015.
The topic for this competition is a development plan to build and operate a cable car system in Taiwan.
Students are encouraged to choose whatever sites in Taiwan they feel suitable for construction andoperation for a cable car system. The theme of this competition is a complete development plan. Therefore
not only engineering designs and geological conditions that need to be considered, but also ecology andeconomy or even tourism and transportation issues are all to be addressed in this competition.
There were 20 teams from 12 universities in Taiwan registered to this contest. Each team composedof 1 teacher and 4~6 students and at least 1/2 of the students should have a major in civil or hydraulicengineering. The first stage of the competition was conducted by the judges on screening the paper work
submitted and only half of the teams entered final competition. In the final stage, each team was assignedby CAEC a mentor from the engineering consulting industry for assistance. The final contest was heldon site which includes a 15-minute oral presentation and question & answer session from experienced
judges for each team. What is beyond our expectation is that students utilized different tools to presentthemselves. Printouts, computer slides, 3D animations and even hand-made models were all seen in thefinal contest. One of the teams even conducted an opera as a way of presentation. The 1st place winner
was awarded with a prize of 120,000 NTD (~4,000 USD). The 2nd place and 3rd place winners were awardeda prize of 60,000 NTD and 30,000 NTD respectively. All the winners were invited to CICHE’s annual
assembly meeting to receive their prizes and honors in public. All 3 winners also gave short talks on theircable car system development plans in a seminar session.
To further expand the content of this competition, a facebook group was organized for anonymous voting
on each team’s development plan for cable car systems. A1-sized posters designed by all teams were also
exhibited in CICHE’s conference for on-site voting. The 1st place winner from the voting was awarded themost-popular prize.
This activity was a success and that CAEC is planning another student competition for 2016.
Contest Schedule
Contest announced

2015.6.1

Mentor matching2015.8.31

Registration ended

2015.7.17

Final contest

2015.11.13

Final team announced

2015.8.26

Awarding ceremony

2015.11.21

6

FIDIC Asia Pacific Newsletter
China - T he Chinese Association of Engineering
Consultants (CAEC)

Student Presentation (I)Student Presentation (II)Student Presentation (III)Model Made by Students

Judgement Team

Student Presentation (IV)7

FIDIC Asia Pacific Newsletter
Indonesia - T he National Associationof Indonesian Consultants

The National Association of Indonesian Consultants/
INKINDO conducted FIDIC International Training
Being Member Association of FIDIC, INKINDO regularly conducts FIDIC Certified Training Programs inIndonesia to socialize FIDIC standard forms of contract for civil engineering projects which are recognized
and used globally.
On February 22 and 23, 2016, INKINDO in cooperation with AntaVaya a professional training provider, hasconducted again FIDIC Certified Training on Conditions of Contract for Construction, Employer Design(traditional Project) known as RED Book Training Module in Bandung, West Java,Indonesia. The Course
Instructor was DR Sarwono Hardjomuljadi, Ir, MSc, MSBA, MDBF, ACPE, ACIArb, who is a certified FIDIC
Trainer for this Module.
The Training was opened and closed officially by Mr Jimmy Sardjono Michael, INKINDO’s Vice President
for International Affair. Total 43 participants attended this Training, coming from construction industry
stakeholders, including law firm.
INKINDO plans to conduct another batches of similar FIDIC trainings during the period of May andOctober this year.

8FIDIC Asia Pacific Newsletter
Japan - Association of Japanese
Consulting Engineers (AJCE)

Seminar and Training Activities
The Association of Japanese Consulting Engineers (AJCE) has been conducting various seminars andtrainings initiated by committees in charge. On regular basis, AJCE holds Annual Seminar, YP Seminar,Contract Administrator Training Seminar (for beginners), Contract Administrator Training Workshop(for practitioners), and Interdisciplinary Seminar. In addition, AJCE conducts special seminars such as
FIDIC Contract Seminar, FIDIC Module Training Seminar when we find needs from members and public.
Seminars and training are one the major functions of AJCE to advocate and disseminate FIDIC activities aswell as to promote CE industry in Japan. Characteristics of each seminar is summarized in the table below
NamePurpose

Speakers

Annual Seminar
24th July, 2015

Select topics relevant to the needs orchallenges to CE industry in Japanand overseas

Client, Government official, FIDIC
president, CEO of MAs, Academicexpert, member firm (CEO), Lawyer

YP Seminar
24th Aug., 2015

Promote networking and capacity
building among YPs

Project leader in gov. R&D projects,
YP, Academic Expert, Practitioner

Contract Admin. Training Promote experts familiar with FIDIC
Seminar/ Workshop
Condition of Contracts in overseas
27th Nov ‘15, 19th Feb ‘16 construction projects

Contract Administrator,
National List of Adjudicator,Arbitrator, Practitioner

Seminar/ Workshop
27th Nov ‘15, 19th Feb ‘16

Share experience and knowhow in innovative challenges intransportation, railways, spacescience, climate, power, safety, etc.

Railway & transportation expert,
Meteorologist, Space Scientist,
Earthquake expert, Nuclear expert,
Botanist, etc.

FIDIC Cond. of Contract
Seminar, 1st-4th Feb,
2016

Promote and disseminate FIDIC
Condition of Contract throughseminar

FIDIC Accredited Trainer,
Expert in FIDIC Contract

Annual Seminar 2015

Contract Administrator
Training FIDIC

Workshop 2015
Seminar 2016

9YP Seminar 2015

FIDIC Asia Pacific Newsletter
Japan - Association of Japanese
Consulting Engineers (AJCE)

Activities of AJCE Young Professionals Sub-Committee (YPSC)
1. Brief introduction of AJCE-YPSC
AJCE-YPSC was established in December 2009 topromote following 3 networking activities:
1. Networking with consulting engineers (CEs) inJapan
2. Networking with overseas CEs
3. Networking beyond generations and industries
In the beginning, there were only 9 members on ourteam, but we have kept growing continuously and inJuly 2015 already had 21 members. This has allowed
us to gradually expand our activities.

YPSC members (not all, though!)

2. Networking with CEs in Japan
Technical tour
The first attempt of technical tour was in 2014.
Young CEs from AJCE member firms visited Ariake
Water Reclamation Center and Tokyo InternationalForum. Each of these is one of the Japan’s mostadvanced works regarding water infrastructure andarchitecture, respectively. The participants werealso from different areas of engineering, who sharedvarious knowledges in the tour. Needless to say,sharing beer together after the tour also contributed
to this “sharing” activity.

Technical Tour to Tokyo Int’l Forum

Futsal games
AJCE Cup started in 2013 and has grown to one ofthe regular events held by YPSC. It was successfully
carried out twice in 2015. The first one was heldin May and the second in November. Both games
attracted remarkable number of people, 70 players(8 teams) in the former and 40 players (5 teams) inthe latter.
The game begins at 7 p.m. on Friday after work.
The players simply enjoy this exercise, showing notiredness/frustration they might have experienced
from every day work. After the tournament, theplayers move to a pub nearby and celebrate thewinners. All the players expect YPSC holds futsal
games on regular basis. Playing sports together
makes us one, indeed.

5th AJCE-Cup10FIDIC Asia Pacific Newsletter
Japan - Association of Japanese
Consulting Engineers (AJCE)
3. Networking with overseas CEs
Young Professionals Exchange Program (YPEP)For nearly 15 years, AJCE and Consult Australia (CA)have been implemented the exchange program,what we call “YPEP”. In this program, young
professionals in Australia and Japan take turns tobe trainers/trainees at annual basis.
Beginning with pre-visit communication andtraining, trainees spend three weeks in a hostcountry for on-site training. The program includes
site visit, seminar, OJT, informal discussion andof course, cultural experience. It is no doubtthat the program has been a great opportunityand experience for the participants to know thedifference in CE industry and culture, as well as toobtain more global perspectives. The next step wehave to consider is how to spread the benefit, which
is now being a little bit personal and internal, into
other part of the industry.

Wrapping Up Summit at the End of YPEP

4. Networking beyond generations and industries
Seminar for university students
YPSC has been conducting seminars focused on CE and CE industry for university students since 2010. It is
to introduce CE profession and, hopefully, to attract their interest to be a CE in the future. As the activity
in 2015, five YPSC members presented their work experience and topics in CE industry to 80 undergraduate
students. Though the working area of each CE varied, they made a point in common, that the works of CE
had been contributing greatly to economic and social development while keeping sustainable environment
in the world.

5. Way forward
As indicated in the above, YPSC gradually widened its scope of activity according to its expansion ofmembers. In 2015, YPSC achieved the original mission drafted in 2009. We are certain that communicationand networking among YPs both in Japan and overseas have been in progress as the activity of YPSC has
strengthened.
Taking into account both what we have done so far and what we have now, YPSC is making “5-year ActionPlan” to keep this momentum going on, and to be able to tackle with the challenges in the future.

11

FIDIC Asia Pacific Newsletter
New Zealand - Association of ConsultingEngineers New Zealand

A Lesson in Time Travel
Strap in, feet on the floor and prepare yourself to be thrust upwards of 600 miles per hour through the air
in a contraption with more technology than a flying Delorean. We’re talking about flying here. An ordinary
enough task that most practice on a regular basis in our line of work, and depending on which direction
you are flying, also one which involves time travel. I am always amused to board at 6:00 PM for a Trans
Pacific flight to land stateside at 9:00 PM despite the brutal 13 hours of travel. I have long since proclaimed
to be better at time travel than Marty McFly in Back To The Future.
So what’s so special about it? The flying itself is nothing new, nothing special. It is just a part of businessthese days. The special thing is what travel affords us, the opportunity to be in a new place with newpeople, and encountering new things, new possibilities. My 94-year-old Grandfather always says, “Whenyou rest…you rust.” This motto has kept him going strong for so long, it must have merit. The sameprinciple can be applied to business and development, especially in this age of globalisation and all thescary things riding on its coattails, where establishing a personal connection can make a big difference inthe business of consulting.
So why fly? Why spend your valuable time strapped in and eating rehydrated food to time travel acrossthe globe? We endure in order to have the opportunity to connect with people. As this world grows larger
and more competition crowds in, fighting more feverishly for business opportunities, the saving grace forthe consultant will be the connections, client relationships, and professional interactions you develop andmaintain. Whether it results in a direct business opportunity or the chance to exchange experience andadvice with one another, face to face meetings have proven over the course of time to be the best resource
to cut through the global noise and could make the biggest difference to your success this year.
Now I will say…you are in luck! With so many networking events, business meetings, and even conferences
on offer, it can be hard to decide which ones are worth your time and money. The good news is that aconference with immense opportunity is available in your own backyard! The festive Kiwis are hosting thisyear’s FIDIC ASPAC Conference in none other than Queenstown, New Zealand. It is an opportunity to hearfrom world-renowned speakers and lecturers, government officials and leaders of industry. It is also an
opportunity to gain professional connections and develop potential business opportunities with delegatesfrom around the world. To just place that cherry on top, it happens to be hosted in Queenstown, land ofadrenaline, and a great place to occupy your downtime between plenary sessions.
The hosts, ACENZ, have lined up a power-packed speaker itinerary ranging from professors, motivationalspeakers, government officials, award-winning professionals, and more. Speakers of note include Tony12FIDIC Asia Pacific Newsletter
New Zealand - Association of Consulting
Engineers New Zealand
Barry, Managing Director of Aurecon Asia; Sean Chiao, President of AECOM Asia Pacific; Government
Officials Julie-Anne Genter and David Seymour; Associate Professor at Massey University, Dr Jane Goodyer;
Business Specialist Bruce Holland, and many more.
ACENZ have also arranged some great treats to unwind after each day of conference. Board the TSSEarnslaw, a working steamship, to take in the majestic views of the surrounding snow-capped mountainlandscape. Hop from one place to the next in the cozy downtown of Queenstown during our Café
Crawl and enjoy a cold pint or delicious local wine. Finish the conference from 500 feet above in theSkyline Restaurant, which includes a ride in the famous gondola, for the closing dinner gala. If all thiswasn’t enough, two special technical tours will be on offer facilitated by industry experts. Tour one is ageotechnical tour through Christchurch led by CERA Chief Geotechnical Engineer, Dr Jan Kupec. Tour two
is a water treatment plant tour to Glenorchy led by technical director and water engineering expert RobertWhite.
This conference will be well worth the short journey to New Zealand to experience top tier speakers,
quality activities for your down time, and the most treasured of all reasons…to grow and foster yourprofessional network which may result in new business opportunities.
Holly MerchantACENZ
Register today at http://www.fidic-aspac2016.com/registration/

13