Posted on 04/16/2004 3:30:15 AM PDT by snopercod
Chinese workers are flowing into Sudan for what is claimed to be the biggest international project secured by contractors from China. Growing familiarity with conditions in Sudan and more modest expectations for pay and profit seem to have been influential in the Chinese winning the $650-million civil contract for the Nile River's Merowe Dam, over 300 kilometers downstream of Khartoum.
Since winning the contract last June from the Ministry of Irrigation and Water Resources, the CCMD Joint Venture has completed first stage river diversion. And it has begun excavation for the concrete section of the dam that will contain the 20,000-cu-meter-per-second spillway and the 1,250-Mw powerhouse.
Altogether, Merowe’s largely rockfill dam will stretch some 10 km, trapping water to drive 10 French-supplied turbines. It will also impound water to irrigate 600,000 hectares of land and regulate 450 km of river. Costing about $1.5 billion, the project is financed largely by Arab multilateral and national funds.
Chinese firms won three of Merowe’s four main contracts. Paris-based Alstom S.A. was the only western victor, clinching the $330-million turbine order. The civil contract went to the CCMD joint venture of state-owned China International Water & Electric Corp. (CWE), China National Water Resources and Hydropower Engineering Corp. Chinese companies also won the $66-million hydromechanical package and the $397-million transmission system.
CCMD started in a field of several competitors, but French, Austrian and other candidates peeled away. In the end, CCMD soundly underbid its sole surviving rival, Greek-based Consolidated Contractors International Co. teamed with Italy’s Salini Costruttori.
The joint venture’s winning margin was about 10%, says Harald Weber, coordination manager with Germany’s Lahmeyer International GmbH., Bad Vilbel, the owner’s engineering advisor.
Price has been the key advantage for Chinese firms internationally, says Ding Zhengguo, CCMD’s project director. Profit expectations are "much slimmer" than those of western rivals and expatriate staff costs are similarly lean. "The personnel cost of Chinese companies is lower than that of western companies," he says.
From about 675 workers now on site, CCMD’s payroll will reach 2,000 at the peak of work toward the end of this year, says Ding. All managers, 90% of engineers and 75% of technicians will be Chinese. Local staff will account for 20% of skilled workers and all general labor.
Sudanese staff earns on average $22 to $350 a week, while expatriates’ earnings are $220 to $600. The site now works two 10-hour shifts a day but may change to three 8-hour shifts, says Ding.
Low staff costs have not been CCMD’s only trump card. Having completed three projects in Sudan, CWE understands local market conditions. Risk contingencies built into the bid may have been lower than those of less-seasoned bidders, Ding suggests.
Merowe now is set to transform power-poor Sudan’s energy balance. Its annual average electricity production, rated by Lahmeyer at 5.9 billion kwh, will be over 2.5 times more than the nation’s total consumption in 2002, according to International Energy Agency statistics.
Rising to about 60 m, the dam will consist mostly of two concrete-faced rockfill embankments at both abutments, totalling nearly 9 km in length. They will reach to a 520-m concrete section across the main channel and an 800-m-long earth-core rockfill dam.
The project retains most features designed for the government by Moscow-based Hydro Project Institute, says Weber. But Lahmeyer made some changes after it became the ministry's engineer in 2001. They included extending the concrete-faced sections and replacing grouting under the earth core rockfill section with a cut-off wall.
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