Section A – This ONE question is compulsory and MUST be attempted

 

　　1 Rowlands & Medeleev (R&M)，a major listed European civil engineering company，was successful in its bid to become principal (lead) contractor to build the Giant Dam Project in an East Asian country. The board of R&M prided itself in observing the highest standards of corporate governance. R&M‘s client，the government of the East Asian country，had taken into account several factors in appointing the principal contractor including each bidder‘s track record in large civil engineering projects，the value of the bid and a statement，required from each bidder，on how it would deal with the‘sensitive issues’ and publicity that might arise as a result of the project.

 

　　The Giant Dam Project was seen as vital to the East Asian country’s economic development as it would provide a large amount of hydroelectric power. This was seen as a ‘clean energy’ driver of future economic growth. The government was keen to point out that because hydroelectric power did not involve the burning of fossil fuels，the power would be environmentally clean and would contribute to the East Asian country’s ability to meet its internationally agreed carbon emission targets. This，in turn，would contribute to the reduction of greenhouse gases in the environment. Critics，such as the environmental pressure group‘Stop-the-dam’，however，argued that the project was far too large and the cost to the local environment would be unacceptable. Stop-the-dam was highly organised and，according to press reports in Europe，was capable of disrupting progress on the dam by measures such as creating ‘human barriers’ to the site and hiding people in tunnels who would have to be physically removed before proceeding. A spokesman for Stop-the-dam said it would definitely be attempting to resist the Giant Dam Project when construction started.