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Thursday, April 16, 2009.

From Creamer Media in Johannesburg, I'm Shannon O'Donnell.

Making headlines today:

South African construction and engineering group Murray & Roberts has pulled out of another contract in Dubai. This brings its total cancelled order book in the Middle East and elsewhere to 20-billion-rand.

The group said that the Al Habtoor Murray & Roberts Takenaka joint venture had reached an agreement with Dubai Civil Aviation to withdraw its contract to build the Dubai International Airport Concourse 3.

HMRT had been awarded the contract in December last year, but had been unable to finalise "mutually acceptable" contract terms since.

Murray & Roberts said its 40% share of the contract was worth about 5-billion-rand.

The Road Freight Employers Association and the South African Transport and Allied Workers Union reached a wage settlement on Wednesday, ending a nine-day, sometimes volatile, strike that affected fuel supplies to some areas.

The RFEA said that it had signed an agreement with the four road freight unions, which included an 11% increase for all employees currently covered by the Road Freight Bargaining Council.

Satawu spokesperson Tabudi Ramokgolo confirmed that the union had reached an agreement with the RFEA. He added that the deal included agreements on job guarantees for workers returning from maternity leave.

Also making headlines:

South African Finance Minister Trevor Manuel says there's no reason to panic, but job losses are a concern.
The slump in retail sales is seen as a reinforcing need for rate cuts.
Climate change could halve Southern Africa's cereal crop output.
And, steel producer ArcelorMittal considers delaying its big Indian investment by two years.

That's a round up of news making headlines today. For more on these and other stories please visit engineeringnews.co.za.

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