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Thursday, October 15, 2009.

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

Making headlines today:

South African power utility Eskom played down the possibility of deferring the 100-billion-rand-plus Kusile coal-fired power station project, being built in Mpumalanga province, when releasing its tariff application earlier this week. However, it has indicated to the regulator that it may be left with little alternative but to defer the project by between 18 and 36 months, unless a far higher tariff path is forthcoming.

CEO Jacob Maroga refused to be drawn on what minimum tariff adjustment was needed to ensure that the project remained on schedule. The first unit of Kusile was scheduled for commissioning during the first half of 2013.

All Maroga would say was that it wasn't about "a technical percentage", but would come down instead to "choices that need to be made" by government and the National Energy Regulator of South Africa.

Defence Minister Lindiwe Sisulu has to cancel a deal to buy eight military transport aircraft after costs rocketed by 30-billion-rand. Democratic Alliance MP David Maynier said that unless the programme to buy eight Airbus A400M transport planes was terminated, the taxpayer would have to pay close to 6-billion-rand for each aircraft.

However, Aerosud MD Dr Paul Potgieter says that the cancellation of South Africa's participation in the A400M airlifter project will gravely affect the country's aerospace industry.

South Africa is a risk-sharing partner in the A400M programme, with eight of the aircraft on order for the South African Air Force. South African companies involved in the programme are Aerosud, Denel Saab Aerostructures, Grintek and Omniples, with Armscor providing engineering services.

Also making headlines:

Nersa turns down licence applications by Gigajoule Africa for the construction of gas distribution and transmission facilities, as well as for the trading of gas, in the Cape West Coast region.
MTN says that any tariff cuts will require a rebalancing business model.
The National Association of Automotive Component and Allied Manufacturers says that the proposed electricity price hike will lead to job losses and company closures.
And, Africa's telecoms investment will reach 141-billion-dollars by 2013.

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