"I think they have an eye to the future and are looking at the prospect of work that may be associated with the Ruataniwha Dam."
He said there could be more work coming up in the region due to new highway alignment contracts for Hawke's Bay and Manawatu.
"I'm sure they have set a target on it."
He said he wished Fulton Hogan well.
"They will have to work very hard and be extremely innovative to make any money."
It was too early to give a number of job losses, he said. Media reports of 30 could be correct, but talks were being held between the two companies as to how many Infracon staff would be hired by Fulton Hogan.
"It is a work in progress - we are currently working with them to see what kind of workforce/personnel they want in Waipukurau.
"They have depots in Hastings and the contract tender requires that they set up a depot in Waipukurau or Waipawa and until they settle on that there is not a lot of certainty for them.
"We would be hopeful of filling the complement of what they need with Infracon staff so that there are prospects for our employees."
Infracon had 78 personnel in CHB, including office staff, he said.
"We are in the market where we win and lose contracts. This is where we have lost a contract but Infracon will carry on. It won't necessarily affect our profitability adversely. It certainly will affect our critical mass in CHB, but we have lots of other contracts.
"The big loser here is CHB because those are real people they will have to make redundant or let go. If they are not picking up work with Fulton Hogan it will be a loss to CHB."
He said as an entity with CHB council as a shareholder, Infracon had work that was not commissioned.
"We did more than our share in other areas that you may not necessarily see in financial reports - where the council carpark has fallen apart and things along those lines we have tidied it up for them, provided rapid response for storm damage and pitched quite a bit of money into the repertory theatre, just because we are there and part of CHB.
"We will carry on - it's not the end of the world for Infracon but it will have an impact on CHB and in that area we are very sad to see that happen, prospectively."
Hawke's Bay Today attempted to ask Bob Fulton, Fulton Hogan's chief operating officer of regional business, whether the low tender in CHB was a strategic move.
The answer came from the company's national communications manager on behalf of Andrew Harvey, Fulton Hogan's East Coast regional manager.
"Over the past 80 years, Fulton Hogan has created a sustainable business for its shareholders, employees and customers," the statement said. "We have achieved this by always being competitive and applying innovation and best practice to how we tender and deliver our work."
Wairoa District Council-owned roading company QRS has recently won more work for six years after the council consolidated its roading contracts, council engineering manager Jamie Cox said.
He said council contracts were awarded solely according to price and capability criteria.