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De Ruyter backs call for lifting of licensing cap on distributed generators to 50 MW

By: Terence Creamer 2nd February 2021 Eskom CEO Andre de Ruyter says the State-owned utility is fully supportive of moves by large customers to develop distributed generation plants to power their operations, as well as growing calls to lift the licensing threshold from 1 MW to 50 MW so as to accelerate these investments. South... →

Ramaphosa lauds progress at Tshwane Automotive SEZ

By: Donna Slater 2nd February 2021 Despite the “massive challenges” posed by the Covid-19 pandemic, South Africa President Cyril Ramaphosa, in visiting the newly established Tshwane Automotive Special Economic Zone (SEZ) on February 2, said it was “great to see the progress” that had been made since construction started in August... →

Photo by Creamer Media's Donna Slater
President Cyril Ramaphosa attends a sod-turning ceremony at the Tshwane Automotive Special Economic Zone in November 2019

Energy multinational outlines South Africa’s $100bn green hydrogen export opportunity

By: Terence Creamer 2nd February 2021 French energy multinational Engie says that South Africa is ideally positioned, by virtue of its solar and wind endowments, to emerge as a global leader in the production of green hydrogen and derivative carbon-neutral fuels and chemicals, which could generate domestic and export revenues worth... →

Teraco secures R2.5bn to build new 38 MW data centre in Ekurhuleni

By: Schalk Burger 2nd February 2021 Vendor-neutral data centre provider Teraco announced on February 2 that it had finalised a new R2.5-billion loan financing transaction for the construction of a new 38 MW hyperscale data centre in Ekurhuleni, east of Johannesburg. Teraco will use the funds raised, along with internally generated... →

Embedded generation dynamics shifting from ‘buyer’s to seller’s market’

By: Terence Creamer 2nd February 2021 Market dynamics for embedded generation projects in South Africa have shifted materially over the past 12 months as an increasing number of mines and power-heavy industrial firms moved to install renewable-energy facilities at a time when government is also starting to resume utility scale... →

ZRA clarifies stakeholder engagement process, confirms Batoka construction has not started

By: Marleny Arnoldi 2nd February 2021 Binational organisation the Zambezi River Authority (ZRA) has reiterated and clarified its Covid-19-impacted stakeholder engagement process amid preparations to start building the multibillion-dollar 2 400 MW Batoka Gorge hydropower project on the border between Zambia and Zimbabwe. The... →

Reits offer potential in 2021, says association

By: Tasneem Bulbulia 1st February 2021 Real estate share prices and the underlying fundamentals of commercial property assets weakened in early 2020, as South Africa and the rest of the world came to grips with managing through the pandemic, says industry association the South Africa Reit Association chairperson Estienne de Klerk. He... →

EPP's shopping centres in Poland reopen

By: Marleny Arnoldi 1st February 2021 Poland-focused real estate investment trust EPP has advised that the Polish government has allowed shopping centres to reopen on February 1. This follows after the country went into a three-week partial lockdown from December 28, with large shopping centres having remained restricted from... →

Building confidence falls but civil engineering confidence rises

By: Schalk Burger 1st February 2021 The Construction Industry Development Board's (cidb's) SME Confidence Survey for the fourth quarter of 2020 showed mixed results in the performance of the building and construction sector. For general builders, conditions, especially activity, worsened compared with the previous survey round,... →

Sanral to invest R500m in Buffalo City road project

By: Irma Venter 1st February 2021 The South African National Roads Agency Limited (Sanral) is investing an estimated R500-million in a road infrastructure project in the Buffalo City metropolitan municipality, in the Eastern Cape. The contract will involve the improvement of the N2 national road from Green River to Buffalo River... →

District Development Model to improve planning, implementation as South Africa embarks on economic recovery

By: Donna Slater 29th January 2021 The Covid-19 pandemic is providing a good socioeconomic testing ground for the newly rolled-out District Development Model (DDM), with its One Plan, One Budget strategy expected to alleviate disjointed planning, budgeting and implementation across the different spheres and entities of... →

Stellenbosch municipality to consider alternate energy sources

By: Schalk Burger 28th January 2021 Western Cape Finance and Economic Opportunities Minister David Maynier and Local Government, Environmental Affairs and Development Planning Minister Anton Bredell have welcomed a decision by the Stellenbosch municipal council to consider generating and using alternate electricity energy supplies... →

ArcelorMittal SA ramps up Vaal Meltshop to full production to ease steel shortages

By: Terence Creamer 28th January 2021 Steel producer ArcelorMittal South Africa (AMSA) reported on Thursday that it would increase output at its Vaal Meltshop electric arc furnace (EAF), in Vereeniging, to help address prevailing steel shortages, which have been negatively affecting downstream fabricators and manufacturers for... →

Photo by Creamer Media's Donna Slater
Kobus Verster

AfCFTA improves Africa's trade profile, investment attractiveness

By: Schalk Burger 28th January 2021 The African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) helps to improve the attractiveness of Africa for investors, as the potential markets companies can tap have become much larger. This also places the continent in a stronger position to negotiate fair trade terms with other countries and blocs,... →

Global coalition formed to drive net-zero shift in hard-to-decarbonise transport and industrial sectors

By: Terence Creamer 27th January 2021 A new global partnership has been formally launched in an effort to accelerate the decarbonisation of seven heavy industrial and transport sectors that together represent 30% of global greenhouse-gas emissions and where carbon-abatement pathways have yet to be defined. Known as the ‘Mission... →

Afrimat disposes of restructured UCP, but retains ownership of Nkomati

By: Simone Liedtke 27th January 2021 Industrial minerals and construction materials company Afrimat will sell the restructured Unicorn Capital Parents (UCP), which no longer holds a direct interest in the Nkomati anthracite mine. Afrimat last year acquired embattled UCP in order to take full ownership of the Nkomati mine, in which... →

Survey points to partial recovery in commercial property sectors

By: Tasneem Bulbulia 27th January 2021 The 2020 fourth-quarter First National Bank (FNB) Commercial Property Broker Survey saw all three major commercial property sectors, that is, office, industrial and retail, showing slight increases in perceived market activity levels, with the office property market’s activity remaining the... →

Tjeka Training Centre poised for upskilling as infrastructure greenshoots appear

27th January 2021 Construction academy Tjeka Training Centre, based in Randfontein, is poised for the training and upskilling of future construction industry artisans, according to the centre. While the anticipated infrastructure boom is yet to happen, Creamer Media journalist Simone Liedtke finds out what the... →

Tjeka Training Centre poised for upskilling as infrastructure greenshoots appear

Aveng to raise R300m to restructure balance sheet, pay debt

By: Simone Liedtke 27th January 2021 Construction company Aveng intends to raise R300-million by way of a fully co-underwritten renounceable rights offer so that it may restructure its balance sheet, which will allow the group to reset its capital structure. The rights offer comprises up to 20-billion ordinary no par value shares in... →

Opinion: District Development Model must embrace science to achieve inclusivity

25th January 2021 In this opinion article, Bongani Mankewu explores the factors that could improve District Development Model outcomes. Policy is a product of science and politics. This structural definition borrows from the fundamental work of Francis Bacon (1974) and appreciates that while the utilization of... →

Evaluation of emergency-power bids ‘by February’, with renewables bidding to open in ‘first quarter’

By: Terence Creamer 25th January 2021 The evaluation of the 28 bids received under South Africa’s Risk Mitigation Independent Power Producer Procurement Programme (RMIPPPP) is anticipated to be concluded by February 2021, the IPP Office has confirmed with Engineering News. The preferred bidders, it adds, will be announced as soon as... →

Redefine Properties resolves not to declare full-year dividend

By: Tasneem Bulbulia 22nd January 2021 The board of real estate investment trust (Reit) Redefine Properties has resolved not to pay a dividend in respect of the 2020 financial year, in the face of ongoing Covid-19 uncertainty. The board explained in a January 22 statement that it had considered the needs of all stakeholders in the... →

Saice welcomes new construction industry umbrella body

By: Simone Liedtke 22nd January 2021 The South African Institution of Civil Engineering (Saice) has welcomed the establishment of the newly formed construction industry umbrella body, the Construction Alliance South Africa (Casa). Saice CEO Vishaal Lutchman says the institution “looks forward to playing an active role in creating a... →

Projects can bolster local steel tubes and pipes industry

By: Khutso Maphatsoe 22nd January 2021 Steel industry association the Steel Tube Export Association of South Africa (STEASA) believes that the fast-tracking of the 50 strategic integrated projects and 12 special projects – announced in the Government Gazette this year – will present “tremendous opportunities” for locally manufactured... →

RECOVERY PLAN Projects are being fast-tracked to bolster job creation and the economy

Survey shows decline in local pipe market

By: Khutso Maphatsoe 22nd January 2021 The Southern African Plastic Pipe Manufacturers Association (Sappma) has released the findings of a qualitative and quantitative pipe survey that shows a decline in infrastructure investment, particularly in the local pipe market, of 15%. According to the survey, conducted by business management... →

TREADING CAREFULLY The manufacturing process is a continuous one and, therefore, sensitive to volume and excessive stoppages

As South Africa veers from NDP jobs and poverty goals ‘course corrections’ proposed

By: Terence Creamer 21st January 2021 With the National Development Plan’s (NDP’s) goals of achieving full employment and eliminating poverty by 2030 already out of reach ahead of the onset of the deadly Covid-19 pandemic, which has since obliterated the plan’s objectives entirely, the outgoing National Planning Commission (NPC) has... →

EPP appoints sales, acquisitions exec

By: Simone Liedtke 21st January 2021 JSE-listed EPP has appointed Agata Sekula as the company’s executive management team member responsible for sales and acquisitions. Sekula will join EPP from March 1 and will be responsible for executing EPP’s divestment and investment plans, with a particular focus on acquiring institutional... →

Agata Sekula

Construction bodies unite into single alliance

By: Irma Venter 21st January 2021 Twenty-nine of South Africa's professional, contractor, supplier and other bodies within the construction industry have united to form a single umbrella organisation, called the Construction Alliance South Africa (CASA). Industry stalwart John Matthews has been appointed as CASA chairperson. →

Courtyard Hotel Waterfall City set to welcome new guests

By: Simone Liedtke 20th January 2021 Situated close to the iconic Mall of Africa, as well as the Sandton and Midrand central business districts (CBDs), the new Courtyard Hotel at Waterfall City, in Midrand, is officially welcoming guests. The hotel is within walking distance of the Mall of Africa’s various amenities and is close to... →

UN seeks $254m to respond to escalating humanitarian crisis in gas-rich Cabo Delgado

By: Terence Creamer 20th January 2021 The United Nations is warning that the humanitarian crisis in the gas-rich Cabo Delgado province, of northern Mozambique, has escalated dramatically over the past 12 months with more than 500 000 people having been displaced as a result a religiously inspired conflict. The UN launched an appeal... →

Siemens partners to extend Covid-19 facility at Eastern Cape hospital

By: Donna Slater 20th January 2021 Technology company Siemens South Africa has joined forces with Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ), the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development and the Eastern Cape Department of Health to provide a separate modular hospital solution to the... →

Aggreko to implement hybrid power solution for Gold Field’s Salares Norte in Chile

By: Tasneem Bulbulia 20th January 2021 Mobile and modular power solutions provider Aggreko has signed a ten-year contract with global miner Gold Fields to provide a 25.9 MW hybrid solar and thermal power solution for the Salares Norte openpit gold/silver mine, in Chile. This solution has been designed to provide power for the entire... →

Raising distributed-generation licensing threshold to 50 MW would unlock at least 5 000 MW in five years, survey shows

By: Terence Creamer 20th January 2021 Lifting the licensing threshold for distributed-generation projects to 50 MW or higher could unlock an estimated 5 000 MW of additional capacity in five years and go a long way to rapidly easing South Africa’s debilitating power supply constraints. This is the conclusion of a Meridian Economics... →

Kasada acquires African hotel portfolio from AccorInvest

By: Donna Slater 20th January 2021 Kasada Capital Management – through the debut fund, Kasada Hospitality Fund – has acquired a portfolio of eight sub-Saharan African hotels from AccorInvest. The transaction relates to the Pullman, Novotel, Ibis Plateau and Ibis Marcory hotels in Abidjan, Côte d'Ivoire; the Pullman, Novotel and... →

Project launched to define role of finance in South Africa and India’s ‘just transitions’

By: Terence Creamer 19th January 2021 A new multi-partner initiative has been launched with the aim of defining the role that finance can and should play in supporting both South Africa and India’s aspirations to implement “just transitions” to more climate-resilient economies. The ‘Just Transition Finance Roadmaps in South Africa... →

Ninety One SA clients increase shareholding in Murray & Roberts

By: Tasneem Bulbulia 19th January 2021 JSE-listed Murray & Roberts has received formal notification that clients of financial services provider Ninety One SA have, in aggregate, acquired an interest in the ordinary shares of the company. The total interest in the ordinary shares held by Ninety One SA clients now amounts to 5.18% of... →

AfriSam helps build solid foundation for Cape Town mixed-use development

By: Simone Liedtke 19th January 2021 Variable ground conditions at an upmarket mixed-use development in Cape Town has demanded some innovative solutions from contractor GVK-Siya Zama Construction and readymix specialist AfriSam. At the Old Cape Quarter project in De Waterkant, four floors of luxury apartments are being added to... →

A particular challenge was the lack of space in the basement for the use of normal Class 3 formwork.

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