Veidekke Hochtief settles dispute

A dispute between a joint venture of Veidekke and Hochtief, and Norway’s road and rail authorities has been settled, and as a result a pending court case may be dismissed.

Norwegian-based Veidekke said it had settled the dispute with the Norwegian Public Roads Administration and Bane NOR (the Norwegian government agency responsible for owning, maintaining, operating and developing the Norwegian railway network) regarding the final contractual payment for construction of section 2 of the Brøhaug-Strandlykkja stretch of the new E6 motorway and railway line in Hedmark County.

It said the agreement between the parties represented a full and final settlement, and that Øvre Romerike District Court would now be asked to dismiss the court case scheduled to be heard in the autumn.

It added that the parties looked forward to concentrating on new transport infrastructure projects.

Section 2 is 6km long, and features a 2.3km road tunnel, and two rail tunnels of 4km and 150m. The contract was awarded to the Veidekke Hochtief joint venture in March 2012.

Øivind Larsen, executive vice president of Veidekke’s Civil Engineering Norway business area, said, “We are pleased that this matter has been resolved, and that we were able to find a solution outside the courtroom.

“Such disputes are resource-draining, particularly when they continue for years after the completion of work and project hand-over. We now look forward to devoting our full energy and attention to ongoing and new projects.”

Reorganised

Meanwhile, Veidekke’s operating units have been reorganised under the management of five executive vice presidents, a move that the company said was to achieve a more distinct organisation of product and market areas, while also increasing management focus to ensure good operations and improved profitability.

The changes apply to three business areas – project development Scandinavia, construction operations in Sweden, and industrial operations in Norway

In the first of these areas, the group’s activities in residential, commercial and project development in Scandinavia will be gathered under a joint manager, executive vice president Jørgen Wiese Porsmyr.

The business area will include Veidekke Bostad (Property Development) in Sweden, Veidekke Eiendom (Property Development) in Norway, and the group’s activities in PPP (public-private partnerships). Porsmyr will retain responsibility for construction operations in Denmark.

Veidekke’s construction operations in Sweden, Veidekke Entreprenad, will be under the management of executive vice president Jimmy Bengtsson. He will also continue as country manager for Veidekke’s operations in Sweden. Bengtsson will also be handed responsibility for co-ordinating the group’s overall procurement activities.

Veidekke’s industrial operations in Norway, which include the asphalt, aggregates and road maintenance business areas, are currently headed by Catharina Bjerke.

Veidekke Industri (Industrial) has become a separate business area, under the management of Bjerke, who from 1 September was appointed executive vice president for the business area.

CEO Arne Giske said, “The main purpose of the changes is to both renew and reinforce.

“It is particularly important that we are now gathering the units in project development under joint management in order to strengthen our positions, co-ordinate use of resources and improve the flow of expertise between Sweden and Norway in residential and commercial development.”

He said that with the change, the units working in the transport infrastructure sector market in Norway – Veidekke Anlegg (civil engineering) and Veidekke Industri (industrial) – were being given additional management focus to co-ordinate, and use better, its overall strength in this market.

“I believe that we will be able to exploit more skilled managers and their expertise through these measures. We are creating management teams that can give Veidekke an even greater strategic management focus,” said Giske.

The other two executive vice presidents are Hans Olav Sørlie, Building Construction Norway, Larsen for civil engineering Norway.