Infrastructure construction contracts signed before the pandemic have become widely unworkable because of the surging cost of labor and materials, supply-chain blockages and difficulties in securing manpower, according to builder Webuild SpA.
Milan-based Webuild is wrestling with a 2019 agreement with the Australian government to construct the country’s largest hydroelectric power station for A$5.1 billion ($3.2 billion). It’s meant to be completed by 2026. The Snowy 2.0 project, in the Snowy mountains about six hours’ drive south of Sydney, has come to highlight the challenges of completing large-scale projects on terms that were struck before Covid-19, and before Russia invaded Ukraine.
