Construction work on what will be west Africa�s deepest port has been pushed back to the third quarter of this year. The investor was unable to push the Nigerian government to allow fast-track enactment of legislation that would have allowed work to begin this month. The $1-billion Lekki Port project, located 60 kilometers east of the city of Lagos, will feature a 1.5-km-long quay, an 8-km approach channel, 19.5-km channel depths, and a 560-m turning circle, making it the first deepwater port in west Africa to handle over two million 20-ft-equivalent containers a year, plus two liquid berths and one

Testing didn’t reveal it, but reality showcased it when crews started drilling piles for a new $3.2-million Lax Kw’alaams ferry dock in Port Simpson, British Columbia, completed last month. The “piles were walking,” says Claudio Pirillo, project manager for Prince Rupert, B.C.,-based Broadwater Industries. Photo: Broadwater Marine contractor faced challenge of setting piles on a 45� slope. A new dock will accommodate the 15-vehicle Spirit of Lax Kw’alaams’ ferry and offices for B.C.’s Ministry of Forests and Range. To build it, crews were to drill and socket 12 35-in.-diam steel piles 4 meters deep into bedrock for a ramp to

The U.K.’s new government has begun slashing public budgets, but enough cash remains for a $1-billion upgrade of London’s Victoria subway, or tube, station. Construction is due to begin next year, with a 2018 completion deadline. Photo: Transport For London. Victoria subway-station upgrade will include new entrance. Transport for London (TfL) on June 10 signed a construction contract for the major tube station with the Vinci BAM Nuttall Ltd. joint venture. The same team won a $730-million contract to upgrade the system’s Tottenham Court Road station last December. Used by some 80 million people a year, the Victoria tube station

The Florida Dept. of Transportation and concessionaire Miami Access Tunnel officially broke ground in late May on the $1-billion Port of Miami Tunnel project, designed to ease traffic congestion in downtown Miami. Photo: Florida Dept. Of Transportation Two 4,250-ft-long�tunnels will connect Watson Island to Dodge Island, the location of the Port of Miami. Image “Everybody working on this project is very excited,” says Rick Wilson, chief operating officer and technical manager for Miami Access Tunnel (MAT), Miami, which will design, build, finance, operate and maintain the tunnels. A tunnel project in Florida is unique, he says. Design and construction are

Brazil has announced 478 sustainable energy projects it will put up for bid later this year that, if approved and completed, will add more than 14,500 MW to the country’s electricity production capability, according to �Brazil’s Energy Research Corp. The projects, which would be scheduled for completion by 2013, include 399 wind farms in the northeast section of the country, 61 biomass plants and 18 small hydroelectric projects that would not require reservoir construction.

The U.S. Energy Dept. gave a boost to new alternative-energy projects on June 10 by announcing a $102-million conditional loan guarantee for a 22-MW geothermal plant in Oregon, the first for that technology. It also agreed to provide $663 million in grants for three other projects to test the capture and storage of CO2 from industrial sources. The Neal Hot Springs project in eastern Oregon, being developed by Boise-based US Geothermal Inc., would use advanced geothermal technology that is more efficient and can exploit lower-temperature underground heat sources, the company says. It estimates the total project cost at $119 million

Nigeria’s state-run oil company, the Nigerian National Petroleum Corp., signed a memorandum of understanding in June with the China State Construction Engineering Corp. Ltd. to create three oil refineries and a petrochemical plant. Each refinery in the $23.8-billion deal would have a production capacity of 250,000 barrels per day, according to Xinhua, China’s official news agency. A consortium of Chinese banks, including China’s Export and Credit Insurance Corp. and China’s Export-Import Bank, is expected to provide funding. The loans would be repaid from the refinery production stream, with the Chinese managing the refineries until loans are repaid. Despite being the

The Tennessee Dept. of Environment and Conservation on June 15 assessed a $11.5-million fine against the Tennessee Valley Authority in connection with the December 2008 spill that released 5.4 million cu yds of coal ash from TVA’s Kingston, Tenn., coal-fired plant onto surrounding land and into the Emory River. The fine is the first against the federal power-marketing agency since the accident, but TVA will receive a $3-million credit for remediation already performed. Cleanup could cost $1.2 billion. Under the state fine, TVA will perform supplemental environmental projects totaling $2 million. The remainder will be earmarked for the state’s solid-waste

The Shaw Group Inc. is working to pry loose and draw in a large portion of the nation’s dredging fleet―potentially seven cutterheads, five large hoppers and a dozen scows―for the emergency delivery of roughly 45 miles of permitted projects (of 128 miles sought) of barrier berm on the Louisiana coast... that state officials hope will protect inland marshes from the BP Deepwater Horizon oil spill. The problem is, a lot of the equipment already is occupied elsewhere. Photo: Courtesy of Great Lakes Dredge & Dock Co. Big dredges operate with their own fleets of as many as 30 support vessels

The beauty of the Web is its ability to build an audience for significant presentations, even after an event has ended. A June 8 panel discussion at the National Building Museum in Washington, D.C., on the state of seismic building codes, couched in presentations of lessons learned from recent earthquakes in Chile and Haiti, is a fine example. Photo By Tom Sawyer, Enr. In Haiti, building codes are often inadequate or ignored. Related Links: Building Codes Shakedown: Designing for Disaster The presentations—by David Applegate, senior science adviser for earthquake and geologic hazards at the U.S. Geological Survey; Michael J. Armstrong,