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Wednesday, June 2, 2010.

From Creamer Media in Johannesburg, I'm Brindaveni Naidoo.

Making headlines this week:

The new east-to-north directional flyover at the Gillooly's interchange was opened to traffic on Tuesday, June 1, 2010. The project was one of the highest-visibility and most technical projects within the larger 20-billion-rand Gauteng Freeway Improvement Project.

The development affects OR Tambo International Airport-related traffic and has been completed in time for the start of the 2010 FIFA World Cup, which kicks off on June 11 and will continue until July 11.

The South African National Roads Agency Limited said that the 250-metre ramp offered road users who are travelling from Emalahleni (Witbank) in the direction of the Buccleuch interchange a dedicated facility that would improve the traffic flow on the N12.

However, Sanral has cautioned that the incrementally launched bridge had changed the layout and functioning of the interchange. It has urged road users to reduce their speed to 60 kilometers an hour while on the ramp so as to familiarise themselves with the changes.

South African power utility Eskom said on Tuesday that its discussions with Anglo American regarding a burdensome price agreement for the Skorpion zinc mine, in Namibia, were "progressing well" and that the negotiations should be concluded during the current financial year.

The utility said that the negotiated price agreement, or NPA, with Skorpion represented only a small portion of its supply to the larger Anglo group, which was one of its largest customers. It was also only a small proportion of the NPAs that were regarded as onerous.

Earlier in the week, Eskom and BHP Billiton announced that they had amended a supply contract for the Mozal aluminium smelter, in Mozambique, and that discussions were continuing on amending the supply agreements for the South African smelters, which are located in Richards Bay, Kwazulu-Natal.

Following the launch of the new Polo earlier this year, the CrossPolo has become the second model of the refreshed Polo series to be introduced locally.

The Volkswagen of South Africa manufacturing plant, in Uitenhage, in the Eastern Cape, is the sole producer of the new CrossPolo for all right-hand and left-hand drive markets globally.

It is expected that about 12 000 CrossPolos will be produced at the plant in 2010. Pricing of the CrossPolo starts at R198 000.

Also making headlines:

A Chinese company will build the 1-billion-dollar-plus Lagos rail line, in Nigeria.
A delay is likely in the switch to digital broadcasting.
JSE-listed property company Hyprop plans to terminate its consultancy agreement with Redefine Properties.
And, the Industrial Development Corporation is told to aggressively raise money on the capital markets to boost its funding capacity.

That's a round up of news making headlines this week.

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