The government of Morocco has postponed the completion date for its port at the city of Safi, on the country’s Atlantic coast.
The city is building the port to handle coal imports for a $2.6bn, 1.4GW thermal power plant, which was completed in December last year.
The port, which was begun in April 2013, was to have been complete at the end of July. However, a series of problems arose during construction, including the cracking of 700 blocks of concrete in 2017, which meant that a dock that was to be used to unload coal carriers had to be reconstructed.
The problems with the project are thought to have cost the government in the region of £50m.
Work on the power plant, undertaken by French energy company Engie, was completed in December by Daewoo Engineering and Construction. It also ran into trouble when equipment to heat water was found to be faulty, leading to a loss for Daewoo of about $300m.
Operation of the power station requires the import of 10,000 tonnes of coal daily
Image: The Safi power plant is the first in Africa to use ultra-supercritical technology (Heidelberg Cement)
Further reading:
