INFRASTRUCTURE NEWS
FROM AROUND THE CONTINENT
KENYA EGYPT Desalination set to take off in a big way According to Global Water Intelligence (GWI), the UK-based market intelligence provider for the water industr y, Egypt is planning to place new orders for desalination projects using seawater, amounting to 2.8 million tonnes of daily water production by 2025. It eventually aims to supply 6.4 million tonnes of water per day through desalination plants drawing on seawater by 2050. Doosan Heavy Industries & Construction recently signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) on a project in Egypt, signalling the company’s entr y into the Nor th African desalination market. The South Korean corporation announced it had signed an MoU with Hassan Allam, a large-sized construction/ developer firm in Egypt, and Almar Water Solutions, a company formed through a Saudi Arabia-Spain joint venture, agreeing to cooperate on a reverse osmosis desalination project. The companies agreed to enter a comprehensive par tnership regarding the deliver y of the project. Through this project, they aim to produce a daily supply of 1 million tonnes of water for Ismailia, a seapor t city in the middle of the Suez Canal. “Over the past 40 years, Doosan Heavy Industries & Construction has built around 30 seawater desalination plants in the Middle East region, which has led to widespread recognition by clients for our technical exper tise,” says Inwon Park, CEO: EPC at Doosan Heavy Industries & Construction.
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IMIESA March 2022
Converting solid waste into electricity VR Holding AB has been appointed by the Kenyan government to carr y out a solid waste-to-energy project in Kakamega County. Costing US$53 million (R802 million), the construction of the Kakamega Solid Waste-to-Energy plant will provide employment oppor tunities for residents, simultaneously contributing to the socio-economic growth of the county. According to Kakamega Governor Wycliffe Oparanya, VR Holding has nine months to deliver the facility. In addition to diversifying the electricity mix and decentralising power generation, the Kakamega authorities want to provide a sustainable solution to the problem of solid waste pollution. This project is being launched less than a year after the commissioning of a medical waste treatment plant in the same county. The unit built in Kakamega has a capacity of 60 tonnes per day. The new facility uses biodigestion or anaerobic digestion technology to treat medical waste.
MOZAMBIQUE Grindrod flags plans to expand Port of Maputo The Maputo Por t Development Company (MPDC) has announced plans to triple capacity at its Maputo terminal (GML) and Matola Dr ybulk terminal (TCM) in Mozambique in response to rising demand for coal expor ts from South Africa. Grindrod and the government of Mozambique are the MPDC’s major shareholders. This extension is projected to boost South Africa’s mining expor ts on a yearon-year basis, increase volume expor ts by existing por t users, and promote por t access to new users. GML’s throughput capacity will treble – from 1.5 million tonnes per annum to 4.5 million tonnes annually – by the first half of this year. The expansion at TCM will increase from 7.3 million tonnes per annum to 12 million tonnes per annum in the shor t to medium term, and 20 million tonnes per annum in the long term.
