Construction secures significant contracts

Engineering major, Larsen & Toubro ( L&T ) on Thursday said its construction arm has secured orders from prestigious clients for its varied businesses.In the Republic of Mozambique, the Power Transmission and Distribution Business has secured an order for Engineering, Procurement and Construction of a 400KV overhead transmission line between the towns of Chimuara and Alto Molocue in Zambezia Province. This link is a part of the Islamic Development Bank funded Chimuara – Nacala Transmission Project. The completion of this project will propel the industrial growth of the central and northern provinces, especially the Mocuba and Nacala Special Economic Zones and the megaprojects in the province of Cabo Delgado province and will eventually facilitate regional interconnectivity with the United Republic of Tanzania.

In the United Arab Emirates, the business has secured an order for the design, supply and construction of a 220kV substation project from one of the government utilities, L&T said in a filing with BSE. On the domestic front, an order has been secured for modernising the electrical distribution network in several sectors of Gurugram Smart City in Haryana. The existing 11kV overhead distribution network will be converted into underground cable network with Ring Main Units etc. which will greatly improve the reliability of power supply.

The Kutch region in Gujarat has abundant wind energy potential and high capacity transmission systems have been planned to integrate and evacuate the power from this region. An order has been bagged for the construction of 765kV & 400kV Transmission lines associated with such systems, that will not only strengthen the grid but also avoid overloading in the intrastate system due to renewable energy injection. The Metallurgy and Material Handling Business has been awarded an Engineering, Procurement & Construction (EPC) order from NTPC Limited for coal sizing and transportation through high capacity long distance pipe conveyors for Kerandari, a coal mining project in the Hazaribagh district of Jharkhand. The scope of work includes two stage crushing systems along with 9 km dual stream pipe conveyors of 2,500 TPH capacity each and other associated pollution control and firefighting systems including civil, structural and electrical works. This system is designed for high end, environment-friendly material transportation aimed to ensure uninterrupted coal supply to the nearby power plants. The business has also secured orders for its product business from reputed customers.

LAM negotiates Lisbon-Maputo

The director-general of LAM, Mozambique’s flag-carrier told Lusa in Lisbon that the company is trying to negotiate with TAP a partnership that allows daily flights between the two countries.

“We want, if possible, a partnership with TAP for a direct flight almost daily,” said João Carlos Pó Jorge, in statements to Lusa on the sidelines of the ceremony that marked on Monday the launch of flights between Lisbon-Maputo.

A ceremony that marked the return of LAM to European airspace.

“Within three or four years we would like to have daily flights between the two operators, with code sharing so that a person can buy a flight from Porto to Nampula, for example. But also vice versa, from Pemba to Porto, or to New York or London”.João Carlos Pó Jorge estimates that passenger traffic between Portugal and Mozambique will grow “quite a lot” in the coming years, thanks to the major oil and gas projects to be carried out in northern Mozambique.“The oil projects involve a lot of movement, both in terms of frequencies and volume of passengers”, he said, adding that LAM, sees this market growing a lot.Today the route Maputo-Lisbon has about 40,000 passengers, most on TAP, but also other companies, via other destinations. LAM will, from March 31 next year, return to direct flights to Europe, via Lisbon, which has not happened since 2011.The flights will be operated by an Airbus A340-300 aircraft, with 260 seats and more than 40 tons of cargo, and which will connect the two capitals three times a week: Maputo-Lisbon on Wednesday, Friday and Sunday, and Lisbon-Maputo on Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday.

 

LAM’s return to European airspace occurs in cooperation with the Portuguese private airline Hi Fly, owner of the Airbus A340-300 aircraft, and with which a trial period of six months was agreed.For the new flight, the objectives are high: “We want to transport, in the first year between 12-14,000 passengers. But obviously we have to adjust our offer to what we see happening in the market”.

Chimoio Special Economic Zone soon

The proposal to create the Chimoio Special Economic Zone (ZEEC), in Manica province, central Mozambique, will soon be submitted to the Council of Ministers, said the national director of industry, Mateus Matusse, quoted by daily newspaper Notícias.

Speaking recently at a meeting held in that city to present and discuss the proposal, Matusse said the ZEEC will create many jobs, as it will re-launch industrial units that have been at a standstill and encourage new domestic and foreign investments.Among the companies that could be revitalised is Textáfrica, a textile factory that has not been operational for about 20 years and which employed more than 1,000 workers.During the meeting, which was promoted by the Investment and Export Promotion Agency (Apiex), Mateus Matusse said that a technical office will be set up in Chimoio to analyse and grant licenses to projects in the special economic zone.The creation of a Special Economic Zone in Chimoio was proposed by the President of the Republic, Filipe Nyusi, and, more recently, the Prime Minister, Carlos Agostinho do Rosario, met with the workers of Textáfrica to convey the desire to make Chimoio into an industrial and commercial city in the short and medium term.