Contractors safety award given to Dick Pacific

Honolulu contractor Dick Pacific was awarded the 2001 Grand Award for Construction Safety Excellence by the Associated General Contractors of America. Dick Pacific is the first contractor in Hawaii to win the award, the company said.

The award from the 36,000-member association is based on company management commitment to safety, employee participation, safety training, work site hazard identification and safety program innovation.

Dick Pacific, a subsidiary of Pittsburgh-based Dick Corp., employs 800 for projects in Hawaii, Guam, the Pacific Rim and Alaska.

Senate committee OKs panel to study gas prices

The Senate Way and Means Committee yesterday approved a resolution setting up a joint House-Senate committee to study gasoline prices in Hawaii.

The investigative committee would look at available information about how gasoline prices are set, including depositions and other court documents from the state's recently settled four-year price-fixing lawsuit against oil companies.

House members have criticized the measure and instead approved measures to set a price cap on gasoline prices.

A final measure on how to deal with the state's gasoline prices, traditionally among the highest in the nation, would have to be worked out in conference committee.

State halts sales by Ko'olina International

The state has issued an order telling Bobby W.T. Wood and Wood's business, Ko'olina International Inc., to stop selling unregistered securities. Wood, who still has a right to a hearing, was ordered to pay a civil penalty of $20,000.

Neither Wood nor the company is registered to sell securities, said Ryan Ushijima, commissioner of securities, who issued the order. "Wood led investors to believe that their monies would be in a wedding chapel venture," Ushijima said in a statement announcing the order.

Neither Wood nor Ko'olina International could be reached for comment and there is no local telephone listing for either. State business registration records do not show a Ko'olina International.

House passes protections for pension programs

WASHINGTON >> The House voted yesterday to add more worker protections to the nation's pension laws in response to the Enron collapse that caused thousands of employees to lose their retirement savings.

The bill, passed on a 255-163 vote, is modeled after President Bush's pension overhaul plan.

It would let workers get investment advice from the companies managing their retirement plans, allow workers to sell employer-matched stock in their 401(k) plans after three years and require that notice be given to workers before changes are made to their accounts.

In other news ...

Supermarket giant Safeway Inc. lost $367.9 million, or 74 cents a share, in the first quarter, mainly due to new accounting rules requiring accelerated loss writeoffs.

Safeway has 15 stores in Hawaii, including nine on Oahu, three on Maui, two on the Big Island and one on Kauai.

---

Business confidence in New Zealand rebounds

WELLINGTON >> New Zealand business confidence rebounded in the first quarter as the global economic outlook improved, boosting expectations the central bank will raise interest rates next week to contain rising prices.

A net 23 percent of companies surveyed expect business conditions to improve in the next six months, a New Zealand Institute of Economic Research quarterly survey showed. That's better than the fourth quarter, when a net 10 percent of firms expected conditions would get worse. The net figure subtracts those who expect things to worsen from those who expect improvement.

Economists expect Reserve Bank Governor Don Brash will raise the benchmark interest rate a quarter percentage point next week and again in May, taking it to 5.5 percent as he attempts to head off rising prices.

Philippines economy grew at 3.4% in 2001

WASHINGTON >> The Philippines economy grew by an estimated 3.4 percent in 2001, a "robust performance" amid the slowdown of the world economy, the International Monetary Fund said.

The economy held up well in the face of a plunge in exports and "intensifying global risk aversion" following the U.S. terrorist attacks, ending the year with the inflation rate dropping to 4 percent and reserves of $13.3 billion, the IMF said in its annual review of the Philippines economy.

Earlier this week, the World Bank said that the Philippines economy is likely to grow by 4 percent this year and 4.5 percent in 2003.

In other news ...

SINGAPORE >> Singapore's economy shrank at its slowest pace in nine months in the first quarter as companies such as Chartered Semiconductor Manufacturing Ltd. filled more orders, suggesting the city's recession is ending.Gross domestic product shrank 2.6 percent from a year earlier after dropping 6.6 percent in the last quarter of 2001, the Ministry of Trade and Industry said. Economists had forecast a 2 percent decline.

SEOUL >> Daewoo Shipbuilding & Marine Engineering Co., the world's second-largest shipbuilder, won an $80 million order from Unique Shipping (H.K.) Ltd. to build two oil tankers. The shipbuilder will deliver the ships by July 2004, the company said in a statement.