Rwanda: Funding the Nyabarongo Hydropower Project
The government of Rwanda has signed an agreement with Exim Bank of India which will see the Indian bank extend a credit of US$60 million to finance the construction of Nyabarongo Hydro Power project. The Indian bank had extended a loan of US$20 million in the earlier on for the same project.
According to a government official the funds will be released in different phases as construction work on US$97.7 million project runs for 45 months from May 2009. The remaining amount will be financed by the Government.
The Government will also take care of the supervision company at a cost of US$4.5m. The fund has been used to procure material and prepare the site. The contractor is Bharat Heavy Electricals Ltd and Angelique International.
When completed, the plant will generate 27.5 Mega Watts of electricity which will be a major boost to the national power grid. The project is expected to be completed in 2013.
South Africa: Inauguration of a Power Project
A landmark project that converts gas from household waste into electricity has been officially launched in Durban. A first for Africa, the project will produce enough electricity for thousands of medium-income homes.
This is an environmentally friendly power production project. Millions of cubic metres of greenhouse gases that would otherwise have escaped into the atmosphere each year, contributing to global warming, will now be converted into clean electricity.
The project is currently operating at the Marianhill and La Mercy landfills and will be extended to the larger Bisasar Road landfill.
The project is a part of the government's strategic vision to be more sustainable and to tackle climate change.
Nigeria: Rehabilitation of the Kuje Township Road
US$2.1 million has been spent at the second phase of road rehabilitation that consists of Kuje Township Road and Umguwan-Gade road. The three kilometre township road which cuts across five major streets was valued at the cost of US$1.9 million. 
The construction will be carried out using asphalt base with drainages at both sides to ensure a durable project that will last for 10-20 years without any cracks, according to a government official.
The government will compensate all the houses marked out for demolition the demolition is being carried out to widen the road project.
The residents have been called upon to maintain the roads through proper use of the drainage systems.
Mozambique: Approval of the Construction of a Coal fired Plant
The Australian company Riversdale Mining has announced that the Mozambican Environment Ministry has approved the environmental impact study for the construction of a coal fired power station at Benga, in the western province of Tete.
Once the requisite fees are paid, Riversdale will have its environmental licence, and can push ahead with building the power station.This follows the green light given earlier in the month for the Riversdale coal mining project at Benga, when the government approved the environmental impact study for the open cast mine.
Riversdale plans to start mining and processing coal in 2011. During the initial phase, due to run until 2014, the Benga mine should produce 5.3 million tonnes of raw coal a year, to be processed into about 1.7 million tonnes of top quality hard coking coal, plus 0.3 million tonnes of thermal coal per year for export.
Later phases should raise the production capacity to 10 and eventually 20 million tonnes of coal a year.
Ethiopia: Ethiopia’s largest cement factory
CH Clinker Manufacturing plc, a China-based private company, is busy constructing Ethiopia's largest cement factory. 
According to The Reporter, the company is building the facility in the Oromia region, northern Shoa, at a location where the raw materials required for cement production are available in abundance.
The company is planning to have a capacity of 10,000 tons a day, more than four times the output of Ethiopia's largest cement producer, Mugher Cement Enterprise. 0CH Clinker, along with France-based Lafarge which is also planning to construct a cement facility near the site of the Chinese company, is currently building a 12 kilometre access road to the plant.
England
A new bridge has been lifted into place at the Eton College Rowing Centre at Dorney Lake near Windsor ahead of the London 2012 Olympic Games.
The placement of the new bridge, which will provide increased access to the finish line area of the venue and improved areas for athletes to warm-up, keeps plans for "an enhanced rowing and canoe sprint facility" on track, according to the Olympic Delivery Authority (ODA).
Construction of the enhanced venue started in September 2009 with the demolition and removal of the original finish line area bridge and ground works to widen the entrance to the return lane. With the widened entrance in place, the new 50-m span bridge, weighing 250 tons, was lifted into place using a 1200 ton capacity crane.
Work currently underway at the site includes construction of a cut-through between the competition lake and the return lane with a new bridge over the cut-through and the upgrade of the existing gravel/stone access road up to the competition venue for use during the Games.
Designs released for Singapore’s landscape architecture plans
Grant Associates and Gustafson Porter have won an international competition, organised by Singapore’s National Parks Board, to design Gardens by the Bay, part of the next phase of the city’s masterplan. The gardens will occupy 101 hectares of prime land by the water and will become part of Marina Bay.
Bay South, designed by landscape architecture firm Grant Associates, will be the largest garden at 54 hectares and will be located next to the Marina Bay integrated resort. The Conservatory Complex will comprise a ‘Cool Moist’ biome and a ‘Cool Dry’ biome, displaying plants and flowers from the Tropical Montane (Cloud Forest) and Mediterranean environments respectively. Designed as tree-like structures between 30 metres and 55 metres in height, the ‘Supertrees’ are uniquely designed vertical gardens, creating a vertical display of tropical flowering climbers, epiphytes and ferns. At night, these canopies will come alive with lighting and projected media.
Sitting in the western bank of Marina Barrage, Bay East will be 32 hectares in size. Gustafson Porter’s design includes water gardens with terraces that cascade down to the Bay’s edge, a Boat House Piazza and an education centre that will tell the story of water in nature, and teach in a creative and interactive manner the symbiotic relationship between plants, animals and water in an aquatic ecosystem.
ASSOCIATION NEWS
Association of Quantity Surveyors of South Africa (ASAQS)
During the recent ASAQS Board meeting, it was confirmed that the Presidents and Vice Presidents Tour will take place in January and February, 2010. The following delegation is looking forward to the forthcoming combined tour to all the regional Chapter areas.
The touring party will be comprised of the following persons: Mr. Indresen Pillay (President of ASAQS); Mr. Gert Meyer (Vice President of the ASAQS) and Mr. Egon Wortmann (Executive Director of ASAQS)
This tour will enable the ASAQS members to meet with the ASAQS executive members and to share their experiences, expectations and concerns with each other. ASAQS is appealing to all members to support these functions in their respective region and to maximise on the benefits that can be derived from such a tour.
The programme of events in each region will be made available to the members in each region in good time before the arrival of the delegation
New Products
Bobcat’s Skid Steer S330
The high performance S330 is the latest addition to the comprehensive range of skid steer loaders from compact equipment specialist, Bobcat Equipment (Pty) Ltd.
The S330 is the largest Bobcat skid steer. It offers top of the line performance with increased horse power.
The S330 is safety enhanced ROPS/FOPS cabs are designed to optimise the use of space foe easy operations Selectable Joystick Control (SJC) is one of the control options available for the S330, which allows the operator to control the machine with only one lever.
Email: Inf@bobcatsa.co.sa
Website: www.bobcatsa.co.za
Events
GAMA 2010 Annual Conference and General Meeting
Date: March 14-17, 2010
Venue: Sarova Whitesands, Mombasa, Kenya
Email: acek@mitsuminet.com
Website: www.acek.co.ke
The aim of the conference is to bring together engineers from the Consulting Engineering fraternity from all over Africa and we expect about 250 delegates to attend. The conference will also be attended by the President of FIDIC and the Managing Director of the FIDIC Secretariat in Geneva, Switzerland. All the African participants are expected to be in some kind of construction related leadership position in their country of origin.Conference Theme: The Engineer as a Strategic Partner
Sub-Themes:
1) The Engineer in Policy Formulation and Implementation
2) The role of the Engineer in Improving Governance
3) Sustainable Infrastructure: The role of the Engineer
4) The Consulting Engineer in Global Economic Recession.
2010 ANNUAL CONFERENCE
Date: March 26-30, 2010
Venue: Engineers Centre, 13 Continental Road, Roman Ridge, Accra
Contact: www.ghie.org.gh
This conference is commissioned by the Ghana Engineering Institution (GIE). The Conference will be on Transportation and key areas to be discussed will include:
- Road Transport
- Rail Transport
- Air/Maritime Transport
- Ports & Harbours
Bauma 2010
bauma 2010 is the 29th International Trade Fair for Construction Machinery, Building Material Machines, Mining Machines, Construction Vehicles and Construction Equipment
Dates: 19 – 25 April 2010
Venue: New Munich Trade Fair CentreOpening hours: Mon - Fri: 9.30 a.m. - 6.30 p.m.
Sat: 8.30 a.m. - 6.30 p.m.
Sun: 9.30 a.m. - 4.30 p.m.Industry advisers and supporters
Website: http://www.bauma.de
- Construction Equipment and Building Material Machinery Association
- Mining Equipment Association in the German Engineering Federation (VDMA)
- Frankfurt/Main Committee for European Construction Equipment – CECE
