High Guarantee Performances for major Projects –
Safety at any Price?
Public and private clients cover the economic risks of major building projects vis-à-vis the commissioned contractors by means of security and guarantee services. The need for security is quite evident. However, a healthy limit should not be exceeded. The question must be raised whether such precautions actually do contribute towards reducing certain risks during the execution of construction projects. This was the topic chosen by the Infra Association and the Swiss Tunnelling Society (FGU) of the Swiss Engineers and Architects Association on Nov. 11th, 2008, at a special conference dealing with “High Guarantees for major Projects – Safety at any Price?”. It was attended in Zurich/CH by numerous representatives from clients, engineering offices, construction companies, banks and insurances.
In an opening address the FGU president Felix Amberg dealt with the introduction of the current safeguarding instruments roughly 15 years ago in conjunction with the major construction projects for the new Alpine crossings (NEAT) in the form of the Lötschberg and the Gotthard Base Tunnels. In this way arbitration and the fulfilment guarantee were included in the tendering process as
2 documents, which previously had not been included at all or at least were deemed to be of secondary importance.
Some 10 years have passed since then and it is certainly high time for an appraisal of the...