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Infrastructure News

Mantashe sustains 1 MW licence-exemption cap despite calls for higher threshold

By: Terence Creamer 27th March 2020 Mineral Resources and Energy Minister Gwede Mantashe Gazetted an amended version of Schedule 2 of the Electricity Regulation Act on March 26, which the Department of Mineral Resources and Energy (DMRE) said further clarified the requirements for generation for own use for facilities of under 1... →

Various trends shaping Africa’s port infrastructure

By: Tracy Hancock 27th March 2020 The development of inland container terminals, or dry ports, to decongest port traffic is a trend that is gaining significant traction in Africa, says WSP Africa maritime technical director Marthinus Retief. In landlocked Ethiopia, the development of inland dry ports to store containers... →

MARTHINUS RETIEF Africa’s ports need to be larger and deeper to accommodate larger vessels to improve their connectivity to global maritime trade

Lack of port development a concern

By: Tracy Hancock 27th March 2020 While there is some movement in the development of South Africa’s port infrastructure by the private sector, the overall stagnation of its development is concerning, law firm Bowmans ports, transport and logistics head Andrew Pike tells Engineering News. He says this lack of activity may largely... →

ANDREW PIKE The Port of Durban is often congested with trucks that should be transporting up to five or more containers a day but only manage one, if lucky

Aveng says all operations in South Africa, some abroad, closed

By: Marleny Arnoldi 26th March 2020 Construction company Aveng has taken various measures aligned with restrictions amid the global Covid-19 outbreak at its operations in South Africa, Australia, New Zealand, Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand and Indonesia. “These events are highly complex, present significant uncertainty and... →

Bakwena Corridor in R582m upgrade

By: Irma Venter 26th March 2020 Bakwena Platinum Corridor Concessionaire (Bakwena) is adding 32 km of a second carriageway on the N4 between the M17 and R512 (Brits Interchange). The project costs R58-million with a 36-month construction period, and is scheduled to be completed in June next year. →

Contractors obliged to provide protection against Covid-19, armed gangs

By: Irma Venter 23rd March 2020 Contractors who fail to implement effective health and safety regulations on their construction sites are placing their workers at serious risk, especially in light of the global Covid-19 pandemic and ongoing invasions by armed gangs who threaten violence unless their employment demands are met,... →

Murray & Roberts’ earnings unaffected by Covid-19-related halts for now

By: Marleny Arnoldi 20th March 2020 Specialist engineering and construction group Murray & Roberts (M&R) in a statement on Friday said it was still too early to provide an estimate of what the effect of Covid-19 would be on the company’s earnings for the current financial year. As it stands, the impact on its active projects in... →

Chamber launches Small Business Relief Centre

By: Marleny Arnoldi 19th March 2020 The National Small Business Chamber (NSBC) has launched a Covid-19 Small Business Relief Centre to assist businesses during this crisis. The centre collaborates with experts in various business fields, which should help small businesses weather the storm successfully. →

CMF creates contractor advisory centre, assists with contract clarity amid outbreak

By: Marleny Arnoldi 18th March 2020 The Covid-19 outbreak in South Africa has accelerated to 116 confirmed cases by Wednesday morning, out of more than 3 000 people tested for the virus since Sunday, which is increasingly nudging the construction industry to reconsider its “wait-and-see” approach and start implementing impact... →

Civils sector lifts its head after sharp contraction

By: Irma Venter 17th March 2020 Collectively, in nominal terms, the nine listed contractors on the JSE have lost “a staggering” 80% of their value since before the start of the financial crisis, says construction market intelligence firm Industry Insight senior economist David Metelerkamp. “This is absolute destruction of an... →

Every effort must be made to ensure economy ‘does not grind to a halt’

By: Terence Creamer 16th March 2020 Finance Minister Tito Mboweni stressed on Monday that, before contemplating any possible stimulus package to address the negative economic effects of the Covid-19 pandemic, all efforts should be geared towards ensuring that the already weak domestic economy “does not grind to a halt”. A failure... →

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Finance Minister Tito Mboweni

Water ‘crisis’ needs private-sector intervention

By: Darren Parker 13th March 2020 It is essential for the private sector to proactively contribute more towards the upliftment of water infrastructure and services in South Africa, said water engineering company Talbot economist Mike Smith and Talbot strategic director Helen Hulett during a seminar on South Africa’s water... →

Photo by Bloomberg
LIGHT AT THE END OF THE TUNNEL If the private sector invests in water infrastructure projects, it can help ensure water security

Company reaches new heights with award

By: Cameron Mackay 13th March 2020 Height management solutions providers Skyriders received an award from a major petrochemicals producer in December last year for achieving significant reductions in its maintenance costs and boosting health and safety at one of the producer’s refineries, in Mpumalanga. The award was for a... →

REACHING NEW HEIGHTS Skyriders created a methodology and risk assessments for this maintenance project, including a trial run finished last October, and the actual maintenance undertaking in November

Supplier offers complete solution to university

By: Cameron Mackay 13th March 2020 Local cleaning chemicals supplier Industroclean’s ability to provide holistic cleaning solutions enables it to offer the University of Cape Town (UCT) a one-stop-shop cleaning chemicals solution. Industroclean MD Emma Corder confirms that the company began supplying its solutions to UCT... →

CLEANING VARIATION While above the floor cleaning tasks remain similar, variations in floor types require different products and methodologies for maintenance or restoration

Water security needs diverse, flexible systems

By: Darren Parker 13th March 2020 As climate change increasingly poses a risk to water security, the flexibility and diversity of bulk water distribution and the effective management of these systems are essential to secure future water supply. “Water security depends on the systems that are in place to manage it. Risk is system... →

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A SALINE SOLUTION One way of ensuring a guaranteed supply of clean water is through desalination, as is done in Namibia

National nonrevenue water programme in development

By: Darren Parker 13th March 2020 The State-owned Development Bank of Southern Africa (DBSA) is spearheading a programme targeting the creation of a centralised national office to tackle non-revenue water projects for municipalities while seeking innovative funding solutions. DBSA product development specialist Johann Lübbe and... →

IN THE PIPELINE The national non-revenue water central office and programme should be fully operational by the end of 2021

Tanzania set to launch tender for single gauge railway to Rwanda, DRC

By: African News Agency 12th March 2020 The Tanzanian government has announced that it will soon invite international tenders for the construction of a standard gauge railway (SGR) to Rwanda and the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), building and construction magazine, Construction Review Online reported. Tanzania's chief government... →

Construction sector sheds jobs as it faces late payments, community mafias

By: Irma Venter 11th March 2020 Around 90 000 formal jobs have been lost in the South African construction industry from June 2018 to September 2019, says construction market intelligence firm Industry Insight. Employment in the sector now stands at around 600 000 people, says CEO Elsie Snyman. →

Bank forecasting ‘exponential growth’ for South Africa’s small-scale power market

By: Terence Creamer 11th March 2020 A leading South African bank is forecasting “exponential growth” for the country’s small-scale embedded generation (SSEG) market in the coming few years, having already committed to funding project pipelines worth more than R1-billion, mostly in the form of rooftop solar. Nedbank CIB energy... →

Nedbank CIB energy finance principal Duncan Abel

Lessons from Brazil and India as South Africa gets set to resume renewables auctions

By: Terence Creamer 10th March 2020 Auctions have proved extremely successful for driving down the cost of wind and solar photovoltaic (PV) tariffs in both Brazil and India in recent years and are, thus, set to remain the main instrument for introducing yet more variable renewable-energy capacity. Nevertheless, specialists from... →

Photo by Bloomberg
A wind farm operating in Brazil

UK-China Infrastructure Alliance to support African infrastructural projects

By: Tasneem Bulbulia 6th March 2020 Chinese and UK business networks have agreed to build a strategic partnership for the twenty-first century to promote commercial collaboration and knowledge-sharing, with the objective of building high-quality, sustainable infrastructure, including projects on the African continent. The... →

Opinion: South African steel industry is an industry in distress

6th March 2020 In this opinion piece, South African Iron and Steel Institute secretary-general Charles Dednam outlines the difficulties being faced by the domestic steel industry and calls for the creation a ‘level playing field’ to enable the steel industry to contribute more fully in stimulating value-added... →

South African Iron and Steel Institute secretary-general Charles Dednam

Govt spheres, departments in fresh push to collaborate on district mapping, development

By: Marleny Arnoldi 6th March 2020 Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs Minister Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma says the three spheres of government are increasingly working together to take a district-based approach to economic- and human settlements development. Speaking at the Human Settlements Indaba, in Boksburg, on Friday,... →

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Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs Minister Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma

Localisation to boost industries

By: Cameron Mackay 6th March 2020 Government’s intention to increase demand for locally manufactured content to at least 60% across industries will have a positive impact on the local casting, forging and machining sector, says nonprofit entity the Casting, Forging and Machining Cluster (CFMC) of South Africa project leader Steve... →

CLUSTER COLLABORATION The CFMC is a development purposed vehicle which will enable companies to work together to achieve what could not be achieved individually

Mkhize sees room for private sector to refurbish healthcare facilities

By: Tasneem Bulbulia 5th March 2020 Health Minister Dr Zweli Mkhize says the implementation of the National Health Insurance (NHI) presents a number of opportunities for business. Speaking on the second day of the Black Business Council's yearly summit, he said the Department of Health was determining the mechanisms for... →

Massive R1.4bn boost to get Cape Town central line back on track

By: News24Wire 5th March 2020 The Department of Transport budgeted a massive amount of money to get the problematic Cape Town Central train line back on track. Transport Minister Fikile Mbalula on Thursday said there would be a phased re-introduction of the train service for the central line which served commuters in... →

Nersa aiming to grant concurrence on Ministerial determinations within three months

By: Terence Creamer 5th March 2020 The National Energy Regulator of South Africa will release a consultation paper, possibly next week, which will formally initiate the public-participation process required to secure the regulator’s concurrence on two Section 34 Ministerial determinations that have been drafted by Mineral... →

Lesedi keen to retain nuclear skills built up over years in South Africa

By: Kim Cloete 5th March 2020 South African engineering, procurement, construction and maintenance company Lesedi is keen to use its nuclear expertise and skills in South Africa and other African countries and is also looking to expand its focus to Saudi Arabia and Abu Dhabi. Lesedi has diversified its business and is active... →

Photo by Creamer Media
Koeberg power station

M&R’s order book rises to R50.8bn on back of oil and gas platform recovery

By: Terence Creamer 4th March 2020 Specialised engineering and construction group Murray & Roberts (M&R) reported on Wednesday that its order book had increased to R50.8-billion during the interim period to the end of December, up 60% on the R31.7-billion level reported for the corresponding period in the previous year. The... →

Zambia awards China Railway $825m deal for line upgrades

By: Bloomberg 4th March 2020 Zambia signed an $825-million contract with a China Railway Construction Corporation unit to upgrade tracks in the south of the country, the company said. The project will last eight years and will cover nearly 650 km of lines, China Railway said a statement, without saying how it will be... →

Solar PV brings hope for eSwatini

By: Kim Cloete 4th March 2020 The Kingdom of eSwatini, previously called Swaziland, is confident it is on the right track by developing its renewable energy sector to help reduce its reliance on its neighbours for power. eSwatini Energy Minister Peter Bhembe on Tuesday said his country had developed a comprehensive, long-term... →

IRP to be reviewed frequently, says DMRE

By: Kim Cloete 3rd March 2020 The Department of Mineral Resources and Energy (DMRE) says it has started with its work to implement the Integrated Resources Plan (IRP) 2019 from a policy and regulatory point of view. A Section 34 determination is needed to operationalise the IRP 2019, which supports a diverse energy mix. →

WBHO (almost) shakes off nightmare Aussie roads project

By: Irma Venter 3rd March 2020 Wilson Bayley Holmes-Ovcon (WBHO) saw a strong recovery in the six months ended December 31, as it turned a R2-million profit for the comparative period in 2018 into a R264-million profit. It seems the construction group is shaking off the effect of a botched roads project in Melbourne,... →

South African economy enters recession as Q4 GDP contracts 1.4%

By: Reuters 3rd March 2020 South Africa’s gross domestic product contracted 1.4% in the fourth quarter of 2019, following a revised 0.8% contraction in the third quarter, data from Statistics South Africa showed on Tuesday. Economists polled by Reuters had predicted a contraction of 0.1% in quarter-on-quarter and... →

Companies urged to gear up for gas revolution in Mozambique

By: Kim Cloete 3rd March 2020 Key players in the gas industry have urged the South African government and companies to gear up for the tremendous opportunities that the gas resources uncovered in Mozambique will offer. A final investment decision (FID) has been taken for two projects, while the FID for a third project is... →

Medupi's killer fumes: The story of a power station's missing air scrubbers

By: News24Wire 3rd March 2020 Eskom's megapower station Medupi is suffocating South Africa in more ways than one: It is not just a financial black hole; it is also a health and environmental catastrophe. And the installation of crucial technology to make it less poisonous has once again been delayed. For years, Eskom has... →

Fund helps to bring 8 major African projects to fruition

By: Marleny Arnoldi 2nd March 2020 Finance organisation, the Private Infrastructure Development Group’s Emerging Africa Infrastructure Fund (EAIF), last year garnered $242-million worth of new loan commitments towards projects in Gabon, Ghana, Guinea, Kenya, Mozambique, Uganda and Côte d’Ivoire. The EAIF’s loan portfolio grew by... →

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