Engineering Recruitment, Engineers Recruitment, Engineering Employment, Engineering Professionals, Engineering Jobs, WA, Australia

United States consulting engineering firm, MWH, wants to become a big player in water infrastructure in Australia within three years – in time to bag a number of contracts in the Rudd government's $12.9-billion Murray Darling preservation scheme. The Commonwealth has already allocated $4.4-billion irrigators along the Murray Darling river system. Although the projects will take five to ten years to deliver, contracts for design and construction will be awarded within 18 months. It's known internationally as a heavyweight in water infrastructure, but MWH is a relative minnow battling a field of fit competitors in the domestic water infrastructure market, including SKM, GHD and the Snowy Mountains Engineering Corporation. While MWH generated $80-million in revenue across its whole Australian operation in calendar 2009, GHD made twice that ($165-million) from domestic water projects alone. MWH also has the long-term aspiration of expanding into the transport sector, specifically road projects in the $15-million to $20-million range.

Excerpt from: BRW, 10 May 2010