Mounting an effort to combat the blackouts and brownouts that are familiar features of life in Cairo, the Egyptian government recently secured the final piece of financing for a new 1,500-MW, combined-cycle gas-fired powerplant designed to keep the capital city’s lights on longer. With Egypt’s electricity demand set to grow 50% by 2017, the planned $1.3-billion Giza North plant represents a small but critical step toward power sufficiency. A $384-million loan from the European Investment Bank completed financial requirements for the plant, which is 30 kilometers northwest of Cairo. The World Bank board of directors approved a $600-million loan for
The state-owned rail companies of Botswana and Mozambique are preparing to build an estimated $7-billion transport project that would include one of Africa’s longest railways and a deepwater port on the Indian Ocean, south of Maputo. A recent agreement between the two governments calls for the scheme to include private financing, but backing has not yet been secured. Photo: Wikipedia The Beira port facility in Mozambique would be supported by a new deepwater port to handle larger ships. Photo: Courtesy of CFM Congestion at the port and railway complex at Maputo, Mozambique, will be alleviated by a new rail system.
China and Zimbabwe have signed a $400-million hydroelectric-power infrastructure deal for the expansion of the 55-year-old Kariba South power station in the 180-billion-cubic meter reservoir-capacity Kariba dam, one of the world’s largest. Public Domain Image By Ben Bird The 55-year-old Kariba dam impounds the 280-km-long Kariba Lake and straddles the border between Zambia and Zimbabwe. Both countries now are involved in powerplant expansion projects at their respective ends. “We have signed an agreement with China’s Sinohydro Corp. for the expansion of Kariba by an additional two 150-MW units,” Noah Gwariro, managing director of the Zimbabwe Power Co., said in Harare
China continued its investment in Africa’s infrastructure—and in South Africa’s deep need for cement—when a Chinese cement maker formed a partnership to build a plant with two South African companies. Jidong Development Group, the largest cement producer in northern China, has signed a partnership with South Africa’s leading black-women-owned company, Women Investment Portfolio Holdings Limited (WIPHOLD), and with limestone mining firm Continental Cement. The deal is for construction of a new $218-million cement plant in Limpopo, the northernmost province of South Africa. The venture for the 2,500-tons-a-day cement facility also involves the China-Africa Development Fund (CAF Fund), a leading Chinese
The planned construction of a $780-million wind power project in Kenya is about to get under way. The consortium heading the project announced it is close to selecting contractors for the construction of transmission lines, roads and bridges to and from the project site, located in the remote district of Marsabit. The completion of the 300-MW Lake Turkana Wind Power Limited (LTWP) project, Africa’s biggest, would increase the capacity of Africa’s installed wind turbines to more than 1,000 MW, or approximately 0.7% of the total worldwide capacity. The consortium, LTWP, led by Aldwych International (51%) and Industrial Development Corp. of
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
Four state-owned, multinational Chinese construction companies have been short-listed for a tender to construct an $80-million major cement factory in Ethiopia, at a time when China’s dominance in Africa’s construction industry is growing. The four—Sinoma International, CDI-Chengdu Cement Research Institute, Hefei Cement Research Institute and Northern Heavy Industries—now await a technical and financial evaluation of their engineering, procurement and construction tender documents for the construction of the Habesha Cement factory, which has a projected capacity of 1.2 million tones of cement per year. India’s Walchandnagar, synonymous with sugar production in Ethiopia, is the only other company that was prequalified for
Kenya, east Africa’s largest economy, has begun the $960-million process of constructing and upgrading two key roads in the capital of Nairobi through public/private partnerships as part of the multinational Northern Corridor Transport Improvement Project (NCTIP). On Feb. 24, the country signed an agreement with G8 member-country Japan for partial funding of the construction of the Nairobi Western Ring Road. Japan gave Kenya an initial $420,000 grant for the project. NCTIP is a multibillion-dollar road and air-transport program that aims to link the Great Lakes countries, with an estimated combined population of 120 million, to Kenya ’s seaport of Mombasa.