His constituency, a Rajapaksa family stronghold since the 1930s, has been chosen as the site of a new international airport, a conference centre, hotels and other big projects.

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These include America's embargo on backing loans from the World Bank, which would impose higher environmental and other standards on big infrastructure projects such as Myitsone.

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In our experience, companies willingly and frequently use non-Big Six and other specialist firms for such projects.

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It may welcome having a stronger rival to Boeing and other big American prime contractors on the largest defence projects.

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It also marks China's latest step to win construction projects in the West, broadening from the country's sizable role in big-ticket projects in Africa and other parts of the developing world.

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That much has been known for 40 years in Europe where the EU has consistently forced big companies into collaborative projects with companies from other countries.

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Other projects have made promises that strike me as too big to keep.

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On the other hand, Californian voters are a short-termist lot who remain sceptical about big infrastructure projects.

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