The Civil Engineering Contractor May 2019 | Page 12

INFRA AFRICA Southern Africa ZAMBIA Pinnacle Mall project in Zambia Stanbic Bank Zambia has signed a multimillion-dollar loan facility with Vertigo Properties for the completion of a shopping complex dubbed the Pinnacle Mall in Lusaka. Stanbic says the transaction builds on its previous facilities that financed structures such as Manda Hill, Arcades, East Park and Cosmopolitan malls in Lusaka, Ndola’s Jacaranda and Kafubu malls, and Kitwe’s Mukuba Mall. The 10 000m 2 Pinnacle Mall will accommodate 40 commercial retail outlets to include a supermarket, food court, entertainment zone, fashion shops, and banking services, along with a 400-bay car park. Expected to be opened by the end of March this year, the mall will make it the second completed project by Novare African Real Estate (Vertigo’s parent company) after Novare Mall. Stanbic Bank Zambia has to date invested more than USD160-million in real estate development in Zambia. North Africa CHAD Chad solar scheme to increase generating capacity by 150% The North African state of Chad, which presently supplies just 4% of its population with mains electricity, has signed an agreement with Dubai energy company Amea Power to build a 120MW solar farm, more than doubling the country’s present installed capacity of 48MW. It is expected to be installed near the Chadian capital of N'Djamena. The agreement follows a number of others with foreign companies, intended to boost electricity generation and to relieve Chad’s 14-million people of the need to run expensive and polluting diesel and fuel-oil generators. Even in the country’s cities, only 14% of people have power. • The largest deal was signed in July last year between Chad and Almaden Emirates Fortune Power, which is a joint venture between Chinese solar panel maker Almaden and Dubai investment group Emirates Fortune. That scheme is intended to have a capacity of between 200MW and 400MW. • In July, the African Development Bank funded the construction of the 32MW Starsol plant near N’Djamena, to be built by developer NewSolar Invest and infrastructure and renewable energy project financier Arborescence Capital, both based in Paris, and engineering group Ceic Monaco. • In August, a consortium including London-based InfraCo Africa and France’s Smart Energies International, signed a 25-year power purchase agreement with SNE for a 60MW solar project. East Africa TANZANIA Tanzania’s EUR4-million Energy for Agriculture (E4A) project, which came to an end last December, has been extended for nine months to help develop the biogas market and increase the country’s access to renewable energy. The project is being implemented by SNV Netherlands Development with support from the Swedish International Development agency through the Swedish embassy. 10 | CEC May 2019 EUR4-million Tanzania energy project extended Landing at Hassan Djamous Airport, N'Djamena, Chad. www.civilsonline.co.za