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Wednesday, November 18, 2009.

From Creamer Media in Johannesburg, I'm Shannon de Ryhove.

Making headlines today:

The Bombela Concession Company, which is responsible for building the 25,4-billion-rand Gautrain rapid-rail link, has proposed a new, less expensive plan to enable the commissioning of a modified phase-one rail service between the OR Tambo International Airport and Sandton, in time for the opening ceremony of the 2010 FIFA World Cup.

Bombela CEO Jerome Govender said that the modified scope for phase one represents an alternative and more affordable solution to the challenge.

He didn't divulge the new price tag involved under this proposal.

However, he did note that the modified scope will mostly be back-office related requirements and the originally envisaged passenger experience will be maintained.

System and passenger safety and security will not be compromised and the requirements of the Railway Safety Regulator will still be met.

There would be no changes to the phase one route under the amended proposal.

South Africa's central bank left its repo rate steady at 7% on Tuesday, as expected, on signs that the economy is on course to exit recession and on worries high power price rises will feed price pressures.

Under new Governor Gill Marcus, the central bank's monetary policy committee kept the cautionary stance it had adopted under previous Governor Tito Mboweni, defying calls from leftist allies of the ruling ANC to slash interest rates aggressively.

The Bank left interest rates unchanged for a third meeting in a row, after reducing the repo rate by 500 basis points between December last year and August to help stimulate an economy in its first recession in 17 years.

Also making headlines:

State freight logistics group Transnet appoints Tau Morwe as acting CEO at Transnet Freight Rail.
US vehicle manufacturer Ford is bringing to market the world's first inflatable seat belts.
The Gauteng provincial government revises its expenditure for the 2010 financial year upwards by 3,3-billion-rand.
And, Coega's Business Process Outsourcing park will be operational by March.

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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