Germany's plan to launch a magnetic levitation - or maglev - rail service has collapsed amid soaring costs.
It was to be built in Munich from the airport to the city centre, making it Europe's first commercial maglev train. The plans came unstuck after the estimated cost of the track spiralled to 3.2bn euros ($5bn; £2.5bn), up from 1.85bn euros. Maglev trains use electric-powered magnets that enable them to float above their tracks, allowing for high speeds.
"The Munich magnetic levitation rail project has collapsed," said Transport Minister Wolfgang Tiefensee.
The developers of the train, Siemens and ThyssenKrupp, had been working on the project which had been spearheaded by construction firm Hochtief. Rail operator Deutsche Bahn, Munich airport and the European Union were also involved.
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Thursday, March 27, 2008
German plans for maglev derailed
The Panama Canal's New Dredge Will End an Era
The Mindi is the mainstay of the Panama Canal’s dredging fleet. This massive suction cutter dredge was put into service 65 years ago. Except for periods of maintenance and repair, this vessel has worked works 24 hours a day 7 days a week since.
But the era is about to end. Earlier this month the Panama Canal Authority awarded IHC Beaver Dredgers B.V of Holland a $96-million contract to construct the Mindi’s successor.
The new vessel will join the canal fleet in May 2011. It will boast the modern equipment, systems and components as well as the ability to dredge at a depth of 25 meters. Still, according to canal officials, is mid-sized by today’s standards but there that’s a necessity since the vessel cannot be so large it interferes with the waterway’s regular traffic.
The Mindi cost $7 million when it was originally purchased in 1943 but more than $24 million in refitting and upgrades have been performed on the vessel since that time. Originally diesel-powered it is now electric with a 9,000KW capacity. The new dredge, by comparison, will have a 12,000KW capacity.
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Infrastructure Project of The Year Award
Infrastructure Project of the Year Nominations Announced
Tuesday March 25, 11:31 am ET
Sunday, March 23, 2008
Feds approve liquefied gas barge plan for LI Sound
Approving the Broadwater liquefied natural gas barge yesterday, federal energy regulators took swipes at political leaders in New York and Connecticut who want to keep it out of the Long Island Sound and tossed a hot potato directly into the lap of newly-minted Gov. David A. Paterson, whose administration can approve or kill it.
The unanimous decision by the five-member Federal Energy Regulatory Commission came with more than 80 stipulations that Broadwater must take to reduce the environmental and safety impacts of what would be the nation's first floating liquefied natural gas processing plant. "Our environmental review shows that without increased natural gas supplies in the region, consumers will experience higher prices and reduced reliability of natural gas supply," commission chairman Joseph Kelliher said in a statement before the vote. "That is certainly the case on Long Island and in New York City and Connecticut."
He also said that political leaders opposing Broadwater -- a long list, but none of whom he named -- "have chosen to exploit and inflame public fears," adding, "these public officials have done a great disservice to the citizens of the region, which is regrettable."
Primary responsibility for approval of the giant barge rests with the commission -- there is no appeal process, except the courts -- but the proposed site in New York waters allows any of three state agencies to block it. Former governor Eliot Spitzer was to have decided by April 12 whether state permits should be issued. But Paterson said on March 13 he might postpone a decision for further study.
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Saturday, March 22, 2008
Mozambique to aid South African power crisis
Mozambique is to increase power supplies to South Africa to help it cope with severe electricity shortages.
More than 75% of the power generated from Mozambique's huge Cahora Bassa Dam is already sold to South Africa.
A senior official from the company that runs the dam told the BBC that this will be increased next month thanks to a recent refurbishment of the facility.
The move follows news that electricity prices in South Africa are set to rise by more than 50% to ease the crisis.
The South African government said it backed the plans proposed by the state power company Eskom.
The rise would help to offset higher fuel costs and fund major new projects to ease pressure on supplies, it said.
A shortage of power caused a series of blackouts in January, forcing mines to suspend production for several days over safety concerns.
The crisis has been blamed on years of under-investment by the government and rising demand.
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Friday, March 21, 2008
Low-cost Solar Thermal Plants at Heart of Algerian-German Research Push
The development of a new generation of large-scale, low-cost solar thermal power plants is the focus of a joint research agreement signed between Algeria and Germany.
"Energy in the future will come from many different sources, including biomass and geothermal, but solar thermal power plants can definitely play a big part when they become cost competitive."
-- Bernhard Milow, German Aerospace Center
Researchers will be sharing data and expertise to speed up the market introduction of large-scale solar thermal plants. The plants could supply up to 200 megawatts (MW) of electricity and desalinate water for 50,000 people.
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Wednesday, March 19, 2008
Emirati police arrest hundreds of south Asian workers to end violent strike over low wages
DUBAI, United Arab Emirates - Police arrested hundreds of South Asian workers on Tuesday who smashed office windows and set fire to cars during a strike for higher wages.
One diplomat described the unrest as the worst violence at a labor camp in the Arab Gulf in years.
Police said that at least 500 workers carried out "subversive acts" at a work camp in the emirate, or state, of Sharjah, according to the official state news agency, WAM.
The workers broke windows in offices and set the ground floor of one building on fire and also burned five cars and damaged 40 others, police said. No injuries were reported.
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Pacific Ethanol reports millions in losses, liquidity squeeze
Sacramento's Pacific Ethanol Inc. reported heavy losses and a liquidity squeeze Tuesday, citing millions in cost overruns on its ethanol plants as well as difficult market conditions.
The company also reported a plan to receive a $40 million infusion from its construction contractor to help it steer through its financial troubles.
The disclosures, made in a Securities and Exchange Commission filing, are sure to jolt investors. Already the company had been forced to suspend construction of its Imperial Valley plant because of weak market conditions, but Tuesday's revelations suggest the company is facing deeper financial woes.
The company "has extremely limited liquidity and requires substantial additional financing to conduct its operations and achieve its business objectives," it said in the SEC filing.
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B.C. paves the way to better infrastructure
VANCOUVER -- The Sea to Sky Highway improvement project that hugs the coast between Vancouver and Whistler is an engineering marvel, with a modern roadway being built, at some points, out into thin air in the narrow wedge of space between mountainous terrain and craggy seashore.
But it is also a business marvel - a capital construction project that is on time, and on budget - in the middle of one of the biggest building booms and labour crunches ever seen in British Columbia. The reason, its backers say, has less to do with how it is being built and more to do with how it is being financed: through a public-private partnership. Or, as policy wonks call it, a P3.
Private companies building public infrastructure is hardly innovative. But P3s, in their pure form, go much further, paying the private sector to administer the project for years, sometimes decades. The resulting investment opportunity is something along the risk profile of a blue-chip, dividend-paying stock: steady cash flow, solid returns and a minimal risk profile.
But there is risk, and that is the attraction of P3s, for both government and for investors. From the government's viewpoint, all worries about shortages of labour, concrete and everything else that conspires to drive up the costs of a capital project can be written away through a properly drafted contract. And for business, accepting that risk means a counterbalancing return - and the chance to turn a tidy profit by managing those perils properly.
So, if the Sea to Sky project falls behind schedule, the investors pay a penalty. If traffic is backed up beyond agreed-upon standards, the investors pay a penalty. And on it goes, a sensible offloading on to the private sector, which has the imperative of a profit motive to drive it to perform, something government has often tried to emulate, but never duplicated.
For more please visit http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/LAC.20080314.RBRETHOUR14/TPStory/Business
Thursday, March 13, 2008
Brazil miner sees ports, energy a problem
Tue Mar 11, 2008 9:06am EDT
By Andrei Khalip (Reuters)
RIO DE JANEIRO, March 11 (Reuters) - Brazilian mining baron Eike Batista says the country's congested ports and pricey energy are key problems for the mining and metals sector in Latin America's largest country.
Batista, who is about to sell two iron ore projects to Anglo American Plc (AAL.L: Quote, Profile, Research) for $5.5 billion, is now investing in two ports and other infrastructure and electricity projects as ways to keep expanding the mining business in Brazil. "Ports here in Brazil are the same as telephones were in the time of dial phones, only the world is way ahead, working on broadband," Batista said, speaking during the Reuters Global Mining Summit.
"We're talking dinosaur age. Most ports are too shallow for jumbo ore carriers, we are going to give them 18 meters-plus berth depths, multipurpose ports with their own industry base." China and India, Brazil peers as leading emerging markets, had already set an example there, said the 51-year-old billionaire and avid speedboat racer.
For more go to http://uk.reuters.com/article/companyNews/idUKN1049662920080311?symbol=AAL.L
Wednesday, March 12, 2008
CH2M Hill Is Set to Win London CSO Megaproject
| 03/11/2008 | |
| By Peter Reina | |
 | |
| A team led by CH2M Hill Cos., Denver, is set to be awarded the program management contract for an estimated $4.5-billion sewage interceptor and storage tunnel through London. The project is intended to control discharges from more than 35 combined sewage overflow points that now plague the city. Sources say losing competitors for the project management role are teams led by Bechtel Group Inc. and Jacobs Engineering Group Inc. Thames Water Utilities Ltd., the London utility building the 7.2-m-dia Thames Tideway tunnel system, is set to announce the award this week. The project's 32.2-km main bore will run from Hammersmith, west London, to the large eastern Beckton treatment plant, which will be enlarged. The tunnel route will closely follow the River Thames. Detailed alignment of the Thames tunnel is under review. Site investigations are planned for this year and next. As much as eight years of construction is scheduled to start in 2012. A 6.9-km northern spur will loop westward from Beckton to the Abbey Mills pumping station. It will capture overflows into the River Lee, which runs through the site for the 2012 Olympic Games. Thames Water began procuring the Lee tunnel contract in December and expects to make an award next March. A single tunnelling machine will be used, says a utility spokeswoman. Working in chalk up to 75-m deep, the tunnelling machine will be kept at around eight atmospheres of compressed air to exclude ground water. http://enr.ecnext.com/coms2/article_neenar080311 | |
