Wolters Kluwer The Belt and Road Initiative: Legal Risks and Opportunities Facing Chinese Engineering Contractors Operating Overseas

The "Belt and Road" initiative, designed to enhance trade flows and spur long-term regional economic growth through infrastructure projects, has expanded China's overseas construction market. This book, written by prominent adjudicators, lawyers, scholars, entrepreneurs and consultants with extensive first-hand experience in global construction matters will assist Chinese contractors in identifying, managing and mitigating the inherent risks involved, including those arising from the political, social, economic and legal contexts of the foreign jurisdiction. Drawing on real-life experiences of project managers, lawyers, arbitrators and others--and including summaries of both successful and unsuccessful cases--the book comprehensively covers the variety of risks facing Chinese contractors of international engineering projects and provides useful advice on how to address them. The issues and topics covered in this book are: understanding the political, social and market environment of the host country; cost and scheduling impacts of host country regulation; dispute resolution mechanisms; site security; health and medical environment; availability of local goods and materials; appointment of local subcontractors; public relations and social responsibility; and insurance. Questionnaires and interviews covering a wide variety of Chinese overseas construction projects provide expert perspectives on risk analysis and management, best practices, precautions, issues to be adjudicated in arbitrations and much more. Addressing all the practical difficulties and problems encountered before and during an overseas construction project, the book will help in-house counsel for Chinese enterprises and those who interact with them improve management, reduces risks, and protect rights and interests. It will also serve as a general guide for international engineering contractors, given that the risks Chinese enterprises face in their overseas operations are shared by their international counterparts. Others welcoming this book include international lawyers, scholars and researchers specializing in construction law, arbitrators, arbitral institutions and international project owners.