Despite facing international economic sanctions and $10 billion in national debt, the government of Zimbabwe is seeking private financing for a $2.6-billion plan aimed at rehabilitating an estimated 40% of the country’s 80,000-kilometer road network.
A new push to use energy independence to reduce Africa's poverty levels, sustain the continent’s economic growth and expand clean technologies is gaining momentum, with a number of new alternative energy projects under way in the region.
Related Links: Grand Egyptian Museum website The Case Against the Grand Egyptian Museum A joint venture of Orascom Construction Industries, Cairo, and BESIX Group, Belgium, defeated 39 other bidders to clinch the $810-million turnkey contract for the construction of the final phase of what will be Egypt's biggest museum.The joint venture's scope includes construction of the Grand Egyptian Museum—which will house a conference center as well as the museum—an exhibition center, manager's residence and tunnels linking phase-one and phase-two construction to the main building. The 40-month contract also involves interior design and landscaping on a site that overlooks the legendary
Construction is under way to fill two missing highway links in a route that connects Kenya and Ethiopia. The two countries see the project as a way to strengthen both their transport network and economic integration.
Tanzania has stepped up the pace for building a $1-billion natural-gas pipeline, accelerating the project’s target completion date to December 2012 from the initial March 2013 goal.
A contract was awarded recently for a $3.5-billion ethylene plant at the Ain Sokhna complex, 120 km east of Cairo. Egypt is in the throes of a $19-billion petrochemical-plant construction boom. The national strategy, laid out in a 20-year master plan, is to boost domestic production capacities to 600,000 ton per year of ethylene and 1.9 tons per year of polymers, according to the Ministry of Petroleum and Mineral Resources.Currently, Egypt’s petrochemical sector represents 27% of its total industrial production. The 2002-22 plan calls for 14 petrochemical complexes. The 2002-08 first phase involved eight plants valued at $5.6 billion. The
Construction of new cement plants is under way in Africa. At least nine new cement plants are under way in Africa, where leading producers are expanding capacities to meet growing construction demands on the continent. The work will cost billions of dollars and take several years to complete, but political instability poses risks.All eyes are on North Africa, where cement demand is expected to boom once new governments review construction sector policies in Egypt, Algeria and Libya.The rebuilding of Libya is at the top of the regional agenda. However, the region's leading cement firms report sluggish performance—especially in Egypt—due to
Map by Shem Oirere/ENR Art Department Planned North Road across Tanzania includes a 53-km section cutting through Serengeti National Park. Related Links: Serengeti Road Project Halted for Wildlife Study Tanzania has altered its design for a new 53-kilometer-long highway through the world-famous Serengeti National Park in response to international concerns raised over the project’s impact on the UN world heritage site.Plans for paving the stretch have been dropped. The country’s minister of tourism and natural resources says the road section will be graveled to reduce harm to the more than two million wildebeests that use the section as their annual
Map by Shem Oirere/ENR Art Department The Inga III hydro plant will harness energy from the Congo River's Inga Rapids, located some 225 kilometers from Kinshasa, the capital of the Democratic Republic of Congo. Construction of an $8-billion to $10-billion hydroelectric plant in the Democratic Republic of the Congo may be delayed and cost more if its design remains unchanged, the African Development Bank said in late June.The Inga III hydropower project, on the Congo River's Inga Rapids, located some 225 kilometers from the capital, Kinshasa, is likely to be bogged down by its design. That design, by SNC-Lavalin, Quebec, entails