Ramboll, the leading Nordic consulting group, on 11 December, 2003 opened a regional head office for South East Asia in Bangkok. The Grand Opening was held at Dusit Thani Hotel and presided by the Danish Ambassador to Thailand, Mr. Ulrik Helweg-Larsen.
Prior to the opening, a technical seminar was held at the hotel as well, in which experts from the group explained the technical details behind some of the latest projects carried out in Laos. The seminars were well attended mainly by official from the ministries of the RoyalThai Government, and judging from the questions after the seminar the subjects covered had been of keen interest to the participants.
Ramboll (Thailand) Co., Ltd. will be headed by Managing Director Carl Christian Østergaard who arrived from a 6 year posting in Ghana where he also established a regional operation for Ramboll, covering West Africa. Mr. Østergaard has also worked on road projects in Zimbabwe , but Asia is new to him.
“It is certainly a different business culture – and I am still adapting my self to all the do’s and don’ts – but otherwise I feel good here,” says Mr. Østergaard.
The Ramboll office in Thailand which will cover Thailand, Laos, Vietnam and Cambodia, has initially been established on Lad Prao Road Soi 130 in the Bangkok suburb Bangkapi.
“We have decided to focus initially on these countries. If Malaysia should be included as well as other countries in the region will be a later decision,” says Managing Director Søren Holm Johansen, from Ramboll’s Head Quarters in Denmark who is responsible for Asia.
Carl Chr. Østergaard will focus on developing projects in these countries for Ramboll within the group’s traditional strong areas of roads, bridges & airports, water & environment, energy and telecom.
“In fact, we have several projects running already, except quite often people don’t know we are involved – they are mostly know as Danida projects, since they are financed by Danida – the Danish development cooperation agency. Most of these environmental sector projects are, however, in fact carried out by us,” he explains.