Related Links: Nigeria Infrastructure Boom Spurred by $1.1-Billion Chinese Investment China Railway Construction Corp. has, through its subsidiary China Civil Engineering Group Co. Ltd., signed an agreement with Nigeria’s transport ministry to build a 1,385-kilometer-long, single-track high-speed railway line with an estimated $13.1 billion price tag.The project is expected to connect 10 Nigerian states with the capital of Lagos, but its exact route has not been disclosed because of concerns of sabotage by rebels, particularly in the oil-rich Niger delta.Also unclear is when construction will start and the mix of workers that will build the line.With at least 22 stations
Photos Courtesy of Uganda Ministry of Energy Sinohydro Corp., which in December launched civil works on the 600-MW project, said it urgently needs skilled personnel to ensure construction is completed by 2018. Related Links: Ugandan Government Removes Chinese Firm From Large Hydro Project China Daily: Power Giants Work on Local Touch The main contractor for the $2-billion Karuma hydropower project in Uganda says the project is facing an acute shortage of suitable electrical engineers and skilled labor to operate the machines.China’s Sinohydro Corp., which in December launched civil works on the 600-MW project, said it urgently needs the skilled personnel
Photo courtesy Wikipedia Commons Ethiopian Cargo, a subsidiary of Ethiopian Airlines, will manage the new cargo terminal being built at Addis Ababa Bole International Airport in Ethiopia. Related Links: Around the World With Caterpillar Chief Doug Oberhelman Ethiopia Aims to Host Africa's Tallest Building Despite recent declines in air cargo activity throughout Africa and forecasts predicting only minimal increases, major airports across the region are launching terminal projects in anticipation of rebounding global economic activity. Developments in Ethiopia, Nigeria, Uganda, Angola and Ghana are among those now moving into construction.In January, Ethiopian Airlines announced it had signed a $148-million turnkey
Strike disruptions on a water project in South Africa, contracted to global infrastructure development firm Aveng Group, will push back the job's completion for yet another three months. Previously, the project was delayed for a year.Aveng Group subsidiary Grinaker LTA has said the labor disruptions related to worker pensions and benefits at the Mokolo Crocodile Water Augmentation Project contributed to a $9-million drop in company profits for the six months that ended last December.The project, which is being implemented by South Africa-owned Trans-Caledon Tunnel Authority, entails the phased construction of two main bulk raw-water transfer systems as well as associated
The construction of what is said to be Africa’s largest refinery and petrochemical complex, sited in Nigeria, would create training and jobs for at least 8,000 engineers and technicians, according to the main investor.Dangote Group of Companies, a large Nigeria-based industrial conglomerate, last year announced it will invest $9 billion in a 400,000-barrel-per-day refinery and a 600,000-metric-tonne-per-year polypropylene plant in the Lekki Free Trade Zone, which is jointly owned by a Chinese consortium.Dangote Group President Aliko Dangote said in Lagos in mid-February that his company will raise $3 billion in equity for the refinery and petrochemical plant.Last September, it signed
Morocco says development of five solar-power projects, estimated at $9.5 billion total, will proceed despite threats by some European financiers to pull out of the initiative because of the controversial presence of the country’s administration in the former Spanish colony of Western Sahara.Moroccan Foreign Minister Salaheddine Mezouar, as quoted by Reuters in early February, told the reluctant investors that Morocco has “no financing problems. We have several [investors]. There are the Japanese, Chinese and Gulf countries.” Moroccan authorities, however, have yet to reveal which lenders have solidified pledges to fund the ambitious energy development program.Undisclosed sources at Germany's state-owned banks and at
Photo Courtesy of Wikimedia. Related Links: Luanda Institute of Planning an Urban Management website (in Portuguese) Broadway Malyan news release London-based global architecture and urbanism practice Broadway Malyan has been selected to deliver an urban growth plan for Angola’s capital, Luanda.The company, which has operations in Asia, Europe and North America, won an international city-planning competition to accommodate, by 2030, a population of 13 million people in Luanda, which now has an estimated six million people.Malyan said in a statement that it would work closely with the Luanda Institute of Planning and Urban Management and a team of consultants, including
Photo by Shem Oirere Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta (center) led, in November 2013, the ceremonial start of the $3.8-billion railway contract. Image by McGraw Hill Construction The current contract covers the first 485-kilometer section of a $14-billion railway project that will link Mombasa to Kampala, Uganda. In the future, the system could be extended into Rwanda and Burundi. Related Links: Kenya Delays $3B Railway Project for Nine Months $650M Airport Project in Kenya Breaks Ground Three Kenyan government groups are investigating allegations of corruption and flawed bidding procedures for a $3.8-billion railway construction contract awarded to China Roads and Bridge
AP photo Slab collapse last November at a building site near Durban killed two workers and injured 29. Related Links: Rescue mission continues at Tongaat Mall A South African government probe set to begin in February into the deaths of two construction workers at a mall building site near Durban is expected to wrap up within six months.The national labor department launched the investigation into the collapse, last November, of a concrete slab at the site of the 15,000-sq-meter, three-story Tongaat Mall, which is about 30 kilometers north of Durban.The accident also injured 29 workers.In addition, the Engineering Council of
Related Links: African Airport Work Poised for Takeoff Court Ruling Endangers Start of Stalled 53-km Serengeti Road Project More than a year after its originally planned start of construction, Kenyan officials broke ground this past November on the $650-million Greenfield Terminal project at Kenya’s Jomo Kenyatta International Airport (JKIA) in Nairobi, Kenya. Two Chinese contractors, Anhui Civil Engineering Group (ACEG) and China Aero Technology Engineering International Corp., will lead the construction of the 178,000-sq-meter terminal, designed by Pascall+Watson of London.Lucy Mbugua, acting managing director with project owner Kenya Airports Authority (KAA), said the new terminal will "increase the [airport's] suppressed