This week's highlight projects
Brazil: Chinese consortium won bid to build longest cable sea bridge
A consortium of China Railway 20th Bureau Group (CR20G) and China Communications Construction Company (CCCC) has been granted the contract to build a 12.4km long cable-stayed sea bridge in Bahia, Brazil. The bridge will be the longest of its kind in South America and the largest bridge project that Chinese companies have financed through a Public Private Partnership (PPP) model in the continent, according to CRCC’s official website. Connecting the city of Salvador, state capital of Bahia, with Itaparica Island, the sea bridge is expected to benefit 45 cities and their 4.4 million citizens.
China Railway Construction Corporation (CRCC), of which CR20G is a subsidiary, is rapidly expanding its presence in Latin America’s transportation sector. The state of Bahia on Brazil’s Atlantic coast has been a focus of its interest for its strategic position as the starting point of the envisioned FIOL railway project, Brazil’s West-East Integration Railway. The project has been under development since 2017.
Laos: Power China’s Nanou River cascade hydropower dam passes environmental and social assessments
Power China this week publicised that their enormous cascade of seven hydropower dams on the Nanou River, a tributary of the Mekong, passed Lao government environmental and social assessments with flying colours. The assessment hearing was attended by government bodies on the national, provincial and county levels, and representatives from companies affected by the project. A recent third party environmental assessment carried out on behalf of the Ministry of Environment also showed that the Nanou project is in line with national environmental standards, according to the Power China release.
Hydropower projects in southeast Asia have faced much opposition from local communities for environmental and social impacts. In their press release Power China stated that the Nanou project has “received the broad approval of the [Laos] government and all sectors.”
Vietnam: Gezhouba to build country’s largest wind power project
A 350MW offshore wind project will be constructed in Cà Mau, southern Vietnam, by China’s Gezhouba Group, now a subsidiary of China Energy Engineering Corporation (CEEC). As part of Vietnam’s ambitious goal to boost renewable energy’s share in the country’s energy mix to 20% in the next ten years, the Cà Mau project will help reduce carbon emissions by 880,000 ton a year while generating 1.1 billion kwh of electricity, according to Chinese media.
The deal is Gezhouba’s largest offshore wind energy project by far in Southeast Asia. The engineering conglomerate has so far accumulated a renewable energy portfolio of 3GW in its construction pipeline, indicating its readiness to embrace “the global energy transition”, the company’s press release stated.
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