Related Links: Big Africa Projects Face Legal Battles, Community Protests Italian construction firm Salini SpA received a major blow to its Africa expansion plans when, late in June, Namibia's high court overturned its $280-million construction contract for the Neckartal Dam.The court ordered the contract to be rebid after a successful challenge by one losing bidder, CSC Neckartal Dam, a consortium made up of South African, Italian and Lebanese firms.The rebid will be the project's third attempt at contract award since 2011, says a published report in Africa.Namibia is constructing the dam on the Fish River, 40 kilometers west of Keetmanshoop,
Image courtesy South African Government Services The investigation revealed more than 300 incidents of collusion, including on World Cup soccer-stadium projects, such as the $460-million Green Point venue in Cape Town. Related Links: South Africa Toasts Itself With 2010 World Cup South Africa will fine 15 construction firms a total of more than $151 million as part of agreements reached last month that settle bid-rigging claims related to at least $4.8 billion worth of projects.The Competition Commission of South Africa said the companies "colluded to create the illusion of competition by submitting sham tenders ('cover pricing') to enable a fellow
Courtesy of The Sun Namibia's Neckartal dam (above) has been delayed by contract-award protests among competitors, while the Nile River dam in Ethiopia (below) is at the center of a water-allocation dispute with Egypt. Photo courtesy of The Independent Related Links: Ugandan Government Removes Chinese Firm From Large Hydro Project Several major African infrastructure projects, including some multibillion-dollar hydroelectric jobs, now are finding their progress beset by contracting disputes among global participants, protests from local communities and even cross-border sovereignty spats.Egypt-Ethiopia Megaproject BrouhahaEthiopia’s construction of the $4.7-billion Great Renaissance Dam on the Nile River has jolted its diplomatic relations with
Africa's tallest tower planned to rise 99 stories in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, by 2017. Ethiopia’s capital city, Addis Ababa, may boast Africa’s tallest building by 2017. While a 58-story building had been announced, plans unveiled by a private Chinese developer now call for a 99-story office-hotel tower. Guangdong Chuanhui Group has not revealed the building's estimated cost or other details, including financial arrangements or the names of the architect and engineer.The site for the Chuanhui International Tower is at the new Addis Ababa Exhibition Centre. The developer says it has acquired the 41,000 sq meter site and the building plans
Africa’s emerging wind-energy sector offers stability and promises to drive the region’s economy to double-digit growth by 2030, say observers. Developers and energy planners in the region hope to generate an additional 10.5 GW of clean and sustainable energy in the midterm, once ongoing and planned wind projects are fully developed.At least 16 wind-energy projects with a total capacity of 1.5 GW are under way on the continent, and another 9 GW worth of projects are planned in the near future. Currently, Africa has an installed wind-energy capacity of 1.1 GW, less than 0.5% of the global capacity.South Africa, Egypt,
Related Links: Uganda Defies Egyptian Threats Over Nile River Projects IGG report faults Uganda Energy staff on Karuma After canceling a $2.2-billion engineering, procurement and construction contract with a Chinese firm for a 600-MW hydropower dam, Uganda is seeking to qualify a new list of international EPC bidders in order to salvage the Karuma project.According to Uganda government officials, China International Water and Electric Corp. (CWE) falsified documents that allowed it to prevail against other international competitors including Salini S.p.A, Vinci Construction, Orascom Construction and South Africa’s Group Five.In late March, after CWE’s successful bid was thrown out, Irene Mulyagonja,
Photo Courtesy of Culligan International Related Links: International Desalination Association website Israeli Firm Awarded Contract at Record Size Desal Plant in California Desalination of seawater and brackish water is gaining a foothold in Africa as the continent seeks to increase freshwater not only to meet the demand from a surging population but also to replenish the diminishing supply caused by climate change. Several countries in Africa, especially in the northern and southern regions, have embarked on new desalination projects in recent years.Various international providers of water-desalination solutions are turning to the African market for investment opportunities, including the construction of
U.S.-led joint ventures have won multiple front-end engineering and design, or FEED, contracts to build or install Mozambique's first liquefied-natural-gas facilities, both on- and offshore, as the scramble intensifies for additional sources of energy in Africa.
Related Links: East Africa Power Transmission Project Ready for Takeoff Efforts To Light Up Africa Gain Momentum South Korea's Daewoo International is expanding its reach in Africa against serious competition from Chinese firms currently dominating a wide spectrum of infrastructure development in the region.The company has signed an agreement with East Africa's leading power generator, Kenya Electricity Generating Company (KenGen) for the development of a $1.3-billion thermal power plant on the coast of Kenya.The 600-MW plant will be implemented under a joint venture with Daewoo holding a 60% interest. KenGen, a partially state-owned firm, will hold the remaining stake.The project,
Investigating safety concerns posed by the $4.8-billion Grand Renaissance Dam in Ethiopia, a joint committee comprising representatives from Egypt, Ethiopia and Sudan, among others, recently made its last trip to the hydropower-plant site before compiling its report.