The Civil Engineering Contractor January 2018 | Page 11

INFRASTRUCTURE AFRICA
EAST AFRICA
KENYA
UK’s Mace buys Kenyan quantity surveyor
Kingdom Tower in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia
and the newly-opened Zeitz MOCAA art
gallery in Cape Town, South Africa.
Mace says the move came as
development in east Africa is on the
rise, driving an increased demand for
construction consultancy services.
Kenyan construction alone is forecast
to grow by 8.5% in 2017 and at 6.2%
annually to 2026, outperforming other
regions in Africa, says Mace.
The acquisition of a significant stake of
YMR is the second purchase that Mace
has made in Africa in the past twelve
months. Mace completed the acquisition
of a stake in MMQS, a South African
quantity surveying firm, in 2016, creating
MMQSMace.
Jason Millett, Mace’s chief operating
officer for consultancy, says, “Following
this purchase and our recent acquisition
of MMQS in South Africa, we will
continue to explore the potential to
expand our offering across our global
hubs through the strategic acquisition of
niche consultancy firms with reputations
for high quality services in order to
strengthen our market position and
provide an augmented offer to clients.”
Simon Herd is managing director for
east Africa at MaceYMR.
Source: GCR
UK-based global construction and
consultancy firm Mace, has acquired a
‘significant stake’ of the Kenyan quantity
surveying company, YMR, in a bid to
expand in east Africa. Following the
purchase for an undisclosed sum the
new business will be called ‘MaceYMR’,
offering project management and
quantity surveying.
YMR has worked on major development
projects in the region, including most of
the new shopping malls such as Two
Rivers, Garden City and the Hub Karen
in Nairobi.
The company was also involved in the
World Bank Office in Juba, South Sudan,
the new Kigali City Tower, Rwanda,
Acacia Plaza in Kampala and Tatu City, a
5 000-acre mixed use residential, retail
and commercial development site in
Nairobi.
For its part Mace is delivering Expo
2020 in Dubai, Battersea Power Station
in London, the world’s tallest skyscraper,
Battersea Power Station in London, one of
the projects that Mace will deliver.
WEST AFRICA
COTE D'IVOIRE
Cote d'Ivoire: Chinese-built biggest hydropower dam
Cote d'Ivoire has inaugurated the
Chinese-built Soubre hydroelectric
power station, the largest of its kind
in the West African country.
The 4.5-km-long hydropower dam at
Naoua Falls on the Sassandra River, with
an installed capacity of 275 megawatts
(MW), is expected to increase hydro
power in Cote d'Ivoire's energy mix and
cement the country's status as a key power
producer and supplier in West Africa.
The Soubre project, dormant for several
decades owing to lack of funding,
was launched in February 2013 with
funding from China. One of Soubre's
four total generator units became
operational in May, about eight months
ahead of schedule, according to the
builder Sinohydro Corporation Limited,
which is under PowerChina. Alassane
Ouattara, President of Cote d'Ivoire,
says the country is willing to have more
cooperation with China.
The cost of the Soubre project is
about USD572-million, of which 85%
is financed by the Export-Import Bank
of China and 15% by Cote d'Ivoire.
The country has the ambition to
push its power production capacity
to 4 000MW by 2020. The recent
inauguration of Soubre adds to the
country's existing capacity of around
2 000MW. With Soubre dam, the
country is on course to meet the
target of 4 000MW by 2020.
Source: news.xinhuanet.com
CEC January 2018 - 9