Construction and Infrastructure

Ireland-based Kentz Engineering and Construction Group has won a $33.6 million contract from Bariq Mining to carry out works at its Jabal Sayid project.

Kentz’s Saudi operating unit, Saudi Arabian Kentz Co Ltd, has won the procurement, construction and commissioning contract to carry out the structural, mechanical, piping, electrical and instrumentation works for Bariq Mining’s copper processing plant at its new Jabal Sayid copper mine located in western Saudi Arabia.

The mine will produce copper concentrate with gold and silver credits. 

Bombardier Inc. has been awarded the contract to design, build, operate and maintain a monorail system for King Abdulaziz International Airport (KAIA) in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia.

The contract, for a Bombardier INNOVIA APM 300 system, is worth $96 million.

Saudi Binladin Group is the contractor responsible for the design and construction of the KAIA Development Project, which will see existing passenger facilities expanded and an additional passenger terminal building constructed to cater to rising passenger numbers.

The Dubai skyline is set to be transformed by the Dubai Pearl development. Jayne Alverca takes a closer look at the planned complex which creates an impression of awe and wonder.

US Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood has announced $2 billion of investment in high-speed rail projects across America.

Twenty-four states, the District of Columbia and Amtrak submitted nearly 100 applications competing for what the Department of Transportation has called an “historic investment”.

The Federal Railroad Administration selected 15 states and Amtrak to receive $2.02 billion for 22 high-speed intercity passenger rail projects as part of a network that will connect 80 percent of citizens to high-speed rail in 25 years.

UK housebuilder Persimmon has reported a rise in sales reservations taken in the year to date of 12 per cent.

The company, which made the comments in a trading update released today, said that sales rates had previously been affected by uncertainty due to the UK’s planned austerity measures and particularly bad weather during November and December.

At the beginning of 2011, Persimmon had a sales order book of £565 million, lower than its £638 million of orders in January 2010. 

With the global drive towards self-sufficiency picking up pace, Jeff Daniels looks at the efforts being made in Abu Dhabi to become self-reliant in reinforcing steel production.

For years now, Abu Dhabi has been the sand-pit for the world’s biggest names in architecture. There can’t be many other places on earth that can boast the variety and quantity of groundbreaking buildings as this Middle Eastern city. Look at the architectural magazines and it could be that even more wild and wonderful designs are yet to come.

The Export-Import Bank of the United States has given preliminary approval for an $805.6 million direct loan to South Africa’s state-owned utility Eskom.

The financing, if eventually approved, will support Eskom's purchase of engineering and construction management services which will be used to construct the Kusile power plant, located in the Emalahleni area of Mpumulanga Province.

The loan includes a business contract for Kansas, US-based Black & Veatch to provide the engineering and construction management services to Eskom.

WS Atkins, the UK-based engineering consultancy, has revealed that a pick-up in construction activity in the Middle East contributed to its strong fourth quarter results.

In a trading statement yesterday, the company said that it now anticipates results for the year ending 31 March 2011 to be ahead of current market expectations.

The company said: “The Group's operations in the Middle East have benefited from increasing activity in the second half of the year, together with further recovery of client payments against which we had previously provided.”

South Africa is planning to invest R15 billion in a new rare metals processing facility, according to a report in the newspaper Business Report.

The project, which is expected to take four years to complete, would create 43,000 direct and 86,000 indirect jobs. Staff needed to work at the facility would number around 7,000, the report said.

Dampier Port Authority is on the threshold of a major expansion programme. Gay Sutton finds out from port development manager Dr Rochelle Macdonald how Australia’s second largest bulk export port is preparing to satisfy the export needs of the rapidly growing oil & gas and mining sectors.