The Civil Engineering Contractor March 2019

INFRA AFRICA EAST AFRICA Road construction works commence in Uganda The Ugandan government has commissioned the construction of two new community access roads in Rubanda West constituency. The project is estimated at a total of just under half a million US dollars, and will see the construction of the 8km Nfasha- Kigunguzo-Rwabahundane road in Bufundi sub-county at a cost of USD244 277, and the 3.5km Kianga-Mushanje road in Ikumba sub-county at a cost of USD134 960. Destiny Civil Engineering, a Kampala- based firm, has been awarded the contract to carry out the construction work. There would be no compensation to the residents whose properties will be affected by the project, since the roads are being constructed under the Inter-Connectivity Project meant for the benefit of the community. The roads would help farmers to more easily transport agricultural produce to different markets, thereby boosting economic development. Many trading centres were expected to be established, with food stores and cottage industries creating employment for the community residents. The construction work is expected to be completed by July. Eldoret in Uasin Gishu, Kenya. EAST AFRICA KENYA French firm to build 40MW solar plant in Eldoret Renewable energy firm Voltalia has been selected by Kenya-based French solar firm Alten Africa to build its 40MW solar plant in Kenya’s Eldoret. Voltalia commenced construction at the Uasin Gishu project last December on an EPC (engineering, procurement, construction) basis and O & M (operations, and plant maintenance) to service the new photovoltaic plant. The 40MW plant, located in Uasin Gishu, in the municipality of Eldoret, will account for two per cent of the country’s total capacity. The solar project is to be built on a land area of 100ha and will have over 161 000 monocrystalline panels set into solar single-axis trackers. Once it goes into commercial operation, scheduled for March 2020, approximately 123.6GWh of clean electricity will be injected every year into the electric network, enough to meet the annual energy consumption needs of over 824 000 Kenyans. The power plant will add to the many electricity projects that have been started or are planned as the country races to raise output to 5 000MW and cut the cost of electricity to consumers by half. The new photovoltaic plant will be one of the largest solar power stations in East Africa. The government targets universal electricity access by 2020, up from 70% in 2017. Alten earlier in May 2018 inked a power purchase deal with Kenya Power for another 50MW solar project located in Kopere, Nandi County. SOUTHERN AFRICA ZIMBABWE Construction contractors to become exempt from Zim’s onerous BEE laws Pro-investor amendments that the government intends to undertake on the indigenisation law, will unlock significant foreign investment to Zimbabwe, the country’s investment and approval body, Zimbabwe Investment Authority (ZIA), contends. It says that the Indigenisation and Economic Empowerment Act, in its current format, is a major impediment to foreign investment into Zimbabwe. The Act’s 51/49 ratio in favour of locals will thereafter only apply to foreign investment in the www.civilsonline.co.za UGANDA precious metal sectors of platinum and diamond mining. This means all other sectors of the economy will be open to total foreign ownership. ZIA CEO Richard Mbaiwa told Business Weekly in an interview that the amendment of the Indigenisation Act came out of concerns consistently raised by investors that they did not want to have indigenous partners prescribed for them, but preferred to freely engage, discuss, and agree. This should calm the nerves of investors. The law, which many believed disenchanted foreign investors, has many times been blamed for low foreign direct investment (FDI) inflows into Zimbabwe, which averaged USD400-million in recent years. In its quest to promote FDI, following the recent elections, government noted that Zimbabwe’s ranking with regard to the ease of doing business remained unacceptably poor, with its ranking only moving from 161 out of 190 countries in 2016 to 159 in 2017. CEC March 2019 | 11

The Civil Engineering Contractor March 2019 | Page 13