News

Nigeria-based cement producer Dangote Cement registered a 52.8% increase in its profits before tax from NGN 70.80 billion (US$440.71 million) to NGN 107.7 billion in the first six months to June 2013. Sales volume was up 29.4% to 6.76 million tonnes, while the market share is estimated to stay at around 62%.

Cemex in the Philippines is providing cement for the Millennium Road Project. Part of a US$214 million infrastructure package that will connect 15 municipalities in Samar (a province in the Eastern Visayas region), phase one is scheduled for completion by November 2013.

Cemex’s APO cement plant in the Visayas will supply the required materials via its jetty port, considered the most modern facility of its type in the country to date. The Millennium Road Project’s first package comprises the rehabilitatio

Indonesia-based construction company Wijaya Karya and Myanmar-based construction equipment company United Mercury Group (UMG) have sealed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) for the formation of a joint venture company. They will team up to develop a concrete plant on five hectares of land in 2013 as being involved in construction services, according to Ganda Kusuma, director of finance for Wijaya Karya. Under the first phase of the plant development, a US$150 million fresh fund will be allocated, with an a

Meridian Drilling has acquired Euro Repair (UK) and its Senegal-based brand EDS Drilling. This adds five rotary air blast (RAB) rigs to the company’s fleet and an operating base in Senegal, with a yard and workshop near Kedougou in the Birimian goldfields which provides support for the drilling operations.

EDS will be absorbed into the Meridian Drilling branding and will enhance the UK and Dubai-based company’s capabilities in the expanding west African market.

Cemex is supplying nearly 60,000m³ of ready-mix concrete for the first stage construction of what is expected to be the largest urban complex in the Chinese city of Qingdao, eastern Shandong province. The centre is expected to offer a mix of commercial, office, housing and hotel space, among other facilities.

RMD Kwikform Oman supplied Larsen & Toubro Oman with a shoring solution for construction of the new Salalah International Airport, Oman, which once complete, will cater services for up to 1 million passengers per year.

A 450tonne capacity Manitowoc 2250 crawler crane is building one of the world’s largest mineral sand mines.

The crane, the largest crane in Senegal, is performing demanding lifts and carries in the sand dunes at the US$570 million Grande Côte Mineral Sands Project, north of Dakar.

The 2250, which is fitted with the MAX-ER capacity enhancing attachment, was bought by Grande Côte Operations, the main contractor and mine operator.

Construction expenditures in China are expected to rise 8.5%/year in real terms through to 2017. Ongoing urbanisation and industrialisation; rising income levels; further population and household growth, and the government’s continuing efforts to expand and upgrade physical infrastructure in the country will support healthy growth in construction spending.

However, growth will moderate notably from the 16% annual gains during the 2007-2012 period when gross fixed capital formation was boosted by the gove

Lafarge Malaysia has launched its new corporate brand in Malaysia. The company has also used a new slogan: Building Better Cities. The change is made in conjunction with its 60th anniversary in the country.

Aircraft parking spaces at Singapore’s Changi Airport are being replaced with recycled concrete mix as part of an ongoing drive to go green. Over the coming decade, 31 of the 80m x 80m spaces, officially called stands, will be repaved.

In 2019, the four-phase project is scheduled to be completed with ten parking stands being repaved under the second phase, which is ongoing.

Terex Washing Systems has officially launched its new AggreSand with a demonstration at an Irish quarry.

The innovative washing system, which combines aggregate washing and screening with sand processing on a modular chassis, was unveiled at Dowling Quarries’ operation near Abbeyleix, County Laois, where the company also produces concrete.

The new AggreSand, which uses TWS components, is the latest addition to the company’s product portfolio, and has been produced extensive research.

Swedish cement company Cementa is collaborating with Linnaeus University (Linnéuniversitetet) in Småland in a research project to use algae to reduce the CO2 emissions from cement production.

This is one of several methods that Cementa is exploring to reduce its CO2 emissions and to reach is target of zero CO2 emissions by 2030. The research is based on injecting algae from the Baltic Sea in the waste heat from the cement furnaces, where they will absorb the carbon dioxide that is produced. The algae wil

French construction materials group Lafarge is adding RFID chips to its concrete in the mixing stage to supply clients with traceability and data storage services throughout the concrete's life cycle.

The special concrete is already being used in the D2 tower in La Défense, Paris, with a chip for every 2m³ of concrete, but the quantity of chips can be adapted to meet a client's needs.