The company said its 40% stake in the project was valued at about R6bn, with the contract expected to start immediately and scheduled for completion within 29 months, by April 2011.
The joint venture recently completed concourse 2 and terminal 3, which were successfully commissioned in October, and previously constructed the Sheikh Rashid terminal (terminal 1) between 1998 and 2000. The news should come as a relief for Murray & Roberts, whose CEO Brian Bruce last month confirmed the group had delayed or suspended some of its projects as some clients experienced cash flow problems in the global credit crunch.
The group said then that due to the continued financial crisis, the construction sector had been severely downgraded by the stock market on fears of a recession and depleted future work opportunity.
Last week Murray & Roberts said its joint venture in the Trump Towers project in Dubai had been suspended owing to the global market turmoil, which wiped R3,2bn from its order book. However, the company had said it, joint venture partner Leighton Habtoor and two other companies were in negotiations to secure further infrastructure work in the Middle Eastern country. The group’s order book stood at R61bn at the end of September.
The latest contract also comes after Eskom announced on Friday its decision to scrap plans to build SA’s second nuclear power plant owing to financial constraints.
Murray & Roberts, Aveng and other local construction companies had expected to boost their order books from the contract, which had been estimated to cost about R120bn.
Aveng and Murray & Roberts were part of France’s Areva and US’s Westinghouse consortiums, respectively, which had bid for the power plant.
“However, the group is confident that the government will continue to pursue its low- to zero emission power generation strategy outside of Eskom and will engage directly with the private sector to establish a second base load operator primarily based on modern nuclear technology,” the company said.
“Murray & Roberts is committed to build further capacity in this field and will continue to pursue a meaningful participation in this national strategy.”
Aveng CEO Roger Jardine said the company’s order book put it in strong position for future growth, despite Eskom’s announcement.
“Although we are disappointed by this announcement, the Aveng group’s construction order book remains strong,” he said.
“Given the current economic environment we understand Eskom’s decision and we look forward to working with Eskom on other projects, to deliver the required power infrastructure for our country.”