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Wednesday, March 25, 2009.

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

Making headlines today:

On Tuesday, South Africa's Finance Minister, Trevor Manuel, said that world economies are "floundering" in efforts to grapple with a global recession. But, he reiterated that South Africa may not be too badly off.

Manuel has previously criticised measures taken by leading countries to handle the crisis. He said earlier this month that while rich nations have moved quickly to shore up their economies and banks with big rescue packages, their responses have been too nationalistic.

South Africa's economy shrunk 1,8% in the fourth quarter of 2008. Indicators point to more weakness in the first quarter, putting it on course for a recession.

The government, however, maintains that South Africa will probably avoid the economic recession that has hit several countries, although it will not escape totally unscathed.

South African power utility Eskom has dismissed suggestions that its Medium Term Power Purchase Programme has been delayed. It says that it's in the final stages of adjudicating proposals.

Several potential participants have expressed concern that the process had seemingly stalled.

But spokesperson Fani Zulu said that the approvals process for the MTPPP was well advanced. He said that the utility was aiming to complete its decision-making by the end of March.

Eskom was on record as saying that it hoped to source up to 3 000 MW of generation capacity by 2012 through the MTPPP and its cogeneration programme, under which facilities with capacities of between five and a thousand MW would be considered.

Also making headlines:

Namibia's national power utility, the Namibia Power Corporation, plans a 10-MW diesel-powered plant in Walvis Bay.
The Nuclear Energy Corporation of South Africa launches a fluorochemical expansion initiative.
An Areva official declares that low-carbon energy solutions already exist.
And, independent power plant developer Ipsa says it's still in talks to sell turbines and refinance its Newcastle plant.

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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