Governments throughout the world are pouring trillions of dollars into their economies to halt their decline and stimulate recovery. It’s still too early to detect results, and in most places construction has ground to a halt. But in Vietnam, a skyscraper continues to rise. Toronto also is relatively unscathed, thanks to pent-up demand for office space, and Calgary’s market is still floating on oil.
“On a relative basis there is work in Vietnam, whereas work has stopped in India, Russia, Dubai and other places,” says Nicholas Bilotti, president of Turner International. Turner has three projects in Vietnam that are moving forward, including a skyscraper called Bitexco. “American companies continue to build while the developers building commercial, retail and hotel work have stopped internationally.”