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Monday, December 8, 2008.

From Creamer Media in Johannesburg, I'm Shannon O'Donnell.

Making headlines today:

On Monday, construction firm Murray & Roberts reported that the Al Habtoor Murray & Roberts Takenaka joint venture has been awarded a 14,6-billion rand contract to develop Concourse 3, at the Dubai International Airport.

Project leader Murray & Roberts' 40% share in the project would earn it about 6-billion rand.

The Dubai Department of Civil Aviation had awarded the five-billion United Emirates dirham contract. The project is expected to be completed by April 2011.

The JV had recently completed Concourse 2 and Terminal 3 at the airport.

South African cement producer Pretoria Portland Cement is confident that demand will remain strong in 2009. This is despite a slowing economy and various project delays.

CEO John Gomersall said that the company was not expecting a massive collapse in the price or demand for cement, as there were too many contracts that had already been awarded, and too many projects that were starting up, or already in progress.

Besides the delay in some platinum mine expansion projects, he said that he had not yet heard of any large construction projects in South Africa that had been cancelled or delayed.

Meanwhile, Gomersall said that PPC would implement a 15% price increase in January, but stated that it was a "very responsible" price hike.

Also making headlines:

South Africa sets up a task team to drive its future nuclear development.
The World Trade Organisation's proposals show that a trade deal is far from certain.
Namibia's Walvis Bay Corridor plans a 100-million dollar investment.
And, Ghana plans to transform its second port of Takoradi into an oil services hub to meet demand when the country starts pumping offshore crude in two years' time.

That's a round up of news making headlines today. For more on these and other stories please visit engineeringnews.co.za.

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