Expansion News and Views: From Iowa to Namibia

- Snap-On Tools broke ground yesterday on a $12 million facility in Algona, Iowa. The investment will add 51,000 square feet to an existing plant, and create 30 new jobs. The state and the Kossuth-Palo Alto County EDC awarded the company $2.8 million for the expansion, and the city offered a $300,000, 10-year loan and $250,000 worth of job training. (The Messenger, Iowa)

- Continental Airlines is trying to decide which airport to throw $45 million at for an expansion. Will it be Newark, Cleveland, or Houston? The expansion could bring up to 700 jobs to the region. And bragging rights. (Cleveland Plain Dealer)

- Those crafty developers from down under are getting set to move into the U.S.! Australia's Macquarie Goodman, the world's second largest industrial property trust, has spent $5 billion over the past 18 months to build its Euro and Asian platforms, and now is looking towards America. The trust would be going head-to-head with their biggest competitor, U.S.-based ProLogis. Look out for themŃthey expect to be a major presence within two years. (Reuters)

- Auto Owners Insurance Group plans to build a $45 million, 96,00 square-foot data center in Lansing, Michigan, adding 80 new jobs. the new facility will be near its corporate headquarters. On Monday, Delta Township voted to sell a half-acre of land to the company for $1. That's right, one hundred pennies. The township is also paying $24,000 in water and sewer connection fees. (The Lansing State Journal)

- First Jamaica Trust Limited (FJT) is seeking $25 million to develop real estate in Jamaica and Central America. On Wednesday, the International Monetary Fund proposed the full loan to FJT. The Trust invests through its property management firm which manages around 750,000 square feet of commercial and residential space in Kingston. (The Jamaica Observer)

- Speaking of Kingston, earlier this month, the mayor of the city, Desmond McKenzie, gave a speech in Massachusetts. He urged Jamaicans living in Boston to invest more of their savings in the country's development, to help restore the country's economic viability. (The Jamaica Gleaner)

- The World Bank approved a $7.5 million loan to support education and training of Namibia's workforce. This is the first part of a program called Namibia's Education and Training Sector Improvement Program (ETSIP1), a five-year, $357 million program to train workers and attract business. I hope it works, because that's a lot of money to pay back.

Reminder: Tread Lightly Over Australian Land

The Sydney Morning Herald called this battle "David vs. Goliath." The Swiss mining company, Xstrata, was denied permissions to expand its zinc mining territory into aboriginal Australian land. The enormous mining company, which employs around 43,000 people worldwide, was planning a $92 million (US) expansion (which included diverting a RIVER by 5.5 kilometres) in Northern Australia. The Northern Land Council, which represents Aboriginal people in that area, mounted a legal challenge on behalf of the original owners, and won. The court found that the company had not followed the correct legal process.

More than 80% of the value of minerals extracted in the Northern Territory of Australia comes from mining on Aboriginal-owned land. The land is very resource-rich, and the rights are covered by the Land Rights Act and the Native Title Act, whereas Aboriginal communities can make agreements with companies regarding land use.

To refresh your Australian history, Aboriginal people are considered to have lived in Australia for at least 60,000 years, while European settlement began just over 200 years ago (in Northern Australia, colonisation began about 150 years ago. The traditional, Aboriginal landowners (similar to the struggles of the Native American people) found themselves excluded from or unable to control the land that they had owned and lived on, which led to the formation of an Aboriginal rights movement.

This morning, the local ABC affiliate in Australia reported:

In the first decade of the 21st Century the scourges of leprosy, rheumatic heart disease and tuberculosis still strike many Aborigines and Torres Strait Islanders. Years after medicine and preventive care largely wiped them out in white populations in Australia.
A report to the World Health Organization has found that Aboriginal health lags a full century behind that of other Australians.
The report by researchers at the University of New South Wales suggests that symbolism is important, even in health care.
It says acknowledging past wrongs done to Aboriginal people would help improve their health.

With such a history, and the present reality, those wishing to do business in Australia are advised to consult with the traditional, as well as government, entities. And tread lightly.

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Sources: The Australion, The Sydney Morning Herald, Reuters, Xstrata Corporate, The Northern Land Council, The ABC Message Stick