Construction World April 2017

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CONSTRUCTION WORLD APRIL 2017 2
COMMENT
EDITOR & DEPUTY PUBLISHER
Wilhelm du Plessis
ADVERTISING MANAGER
Erna Oosthuizen
LAYOUT & DESIGN
Lesley Testa
CIRCULATION
Karen Smith
TOTAL CIRCULATION:
(Fourth Quarter ’16)
4 738
PUBLISHER
Karen Grant
PUBLISHED MONTHLY BY
Crown Publications cc
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BEDFORDVIEW, 2008
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The views expressed in this publication are not necessarily those of the editor or the publisher.
PRINTED BY
Tandym Cape
@ConstWorldSA
The fact that there are so few female engineers in the consulting
engineering industry has raised serious concerns about
transformation in general.
It is a well-known fact that Africa needs in the region of
USD800-billion to develop its power infrastructure. Despite this
seemingly insurmountable task, there are many African projects
that illustrate how the African demand for electricity can be met.
Two of these are the Power Africa initiative and Ethiopia’s
Renaissance Dam, an initiative that is close to being realised and
that has the potential of generating an impressive 6 000 MW of
hydropower.
Power Africa
In 2013, Power Africa was launched to bring together technical
and legal experts, the private sector, and governments from
around the world to work in partnership to increase the number
The construction of the dam, started in April 2011, is expected to
create up to 12 000 jobs. The main contractor of the dam is the
Italian company Salini Costruttori.
The African (and particularly) South African
power and electricity woes are well known.
For example, two out of three people in sub-
Saharan Africa lack access to electricity. Yet,
according to the organisers of the Power &
Electricity World Africa (PEWA), Terrapinn,
it holds vast opportunities too.
About PEWA
PEWA has been taking place for 20 years and is Africa’s
largest and longest running power and electricity exhibition
and conference. It was held on 28 and 29 March. It focused
on innovative and cost-effective ways to tackle Africa’s
electricity and water challenges.
It featured the Solar Show Africa, Energy Efficiency Africa
Show and was collocated with the WaterShow Africa.
At the time of writing, organisers indicated that the
number of pre-registered visitors were 75% higher,
sponsorships had increased by 50% and upwards of 40
African countries were participating (versus the 33 of 2016).
of people with access to power in Africa. It aims to generate
30 000 MW of new and clean power energy with which 60 000
million new electricity connections will be created.
Its Power Africa Tracking Tool tracks power projects as
they progress through the development pipeline. Its website
states that the numbers that are shown reflect deals that Power
Africa's deal tracking application has made publicly available.
However, Power Africa also internally tracks approximately 700
transactions that have the potential to add over 70 000 MW.
Ethiopia puts Africa on the dam map
Currently nearing completion, The Grand Ethiopian Renaissance
Dam is a gravity dam on the Blue Nile River in Ethiopia. At
6 000 MW, the dam will be the largest hydroelectric power plant
in Africa when completed, as well as the 7th largest in the world.
The dam is currently nearly complete, but will take between five
and 15 years to fill with water.
Wilhelm du Plessis
Editor