Kentz wins €48m contract

KENTZ, the Clonmel- headquartered engineering and construction services company, has begun the new year positively, by winning a $69m (€48m) contract to build the main processing plant for a significant new coal project in Mozambique.

The Irish, AIM-listed company’s chief executive, Dr Hugh O’Donnell, yesterday referred to the contract win as “a fantastic award” for Kentz, adding that the company is open and well-positioned to winning further like-minded contracts in the region over the coming years.

“This is the first of many coal projects that are planned for development in the region, which has the largest carboniferous reserves in the world. Kentz is ideally positioned to secure ongoing work over the coming years. This reaffirms our dominant position in the mining sector in sub-Saharan Afica,” he said.

Kentz – which specialises in construction services for companies in the mining and exploration sectors, in the main – will be undertaking all structural, mechanical and electrical erection work at the Mozambique project. The actual project is being developed by Brazilian mining company, Vale.

This is Vale’s first greenfield project in Africa and will be one of the largest coal mining projects anywhere in the world. Located in the Tete Province, some 1,700km north of Maputo the capital of Mozambique, the plant will ultimately have the capacity to handle 26 million metric tonnes of coal per annum.

Kentz enjoyed a strong 2009, both financially and through the announcement of a number of high profile and potentially lucrative international contract wins.