Engineering News | Construction | Infrastructure

https://www.engineeringnews.co.za

Advertise on this page? Click Here to Learn More

Infrastructure News

Gender inclusivity to create sustainable work environment and world, says SAICE

By: Schalk Burger 4th March 2021 Civil engineering organisation the South African Institution of Civil Engineering (SAICE) has called for collaboration and working towards gender diversity and inclusivity to create a more sustainable working environment and world. SAICE president Vishal Krishandutt highlights the need for a... →

Deployments of 515 MW in 2020 cement South Africa’s wind leadership in Africa

By: Terence Creamer 4th March 2021 South Africa added 515 MW of new wind capacity in 2020 cementing its wind leadership on the African continent, a new Global Wind Energy Council (GWEC) analysis shows. By the end of last year, South Africa had 2 500 MW of cumulative wind capacity installed, representing about 34% of the 7 300 MW... →

M&R's ‘all time high’ order book positions company for 2022 return to profitability

By: Simone Liedtke 4th March 2021 Considering engineering and construction services firm Murray & Roberts’ (M&R’s) “all time high” order book of R60.5-billion, and near orders of R19.9-billion, CEO Henry Laas says the group is “well positioned” for a return to profitability in the 2022 financial year. He adds that the firm is... →

Prolonged Covid-19 restrictions contribute to interim loss for M&R

By: Tasneem Bulbulia 3rd March 2021 Engineering and construction services firm Murray & Roberts (M&R) incurred an attributable loss of R167-million for the six months ended December 31, 2020, mainly as a result of the impact of prolonged Covid-19 restrictions, especially in the Mining platform. The firm notes, however, that a... →

WBHO sees marked improvement in civils, road sectors

By: Irma Venter 3rd March 2021 The pipeline of civil engineering projects in which Wilson Bayly Holmes-Ovcon (WBHO) hopes to participate has “recently nearly tripled” to R27-billion, up from R10.5-billion in June last year, says CEO Wolfgang Neff. This pipeline only includes contracts that WBHO believes will be awarded in the... →

Wolfgang Neff

Mantashe sees new industries emerging from South Africa’s renewables-led drive to boost electricity supply

By: Terence Creamer 3rd March 2021 South Africa’s move to increase electricity generation capacity provided a “unique opportunity” for the development of new industries, Mineral Resources and Energy Minister Gwede Mantashe said this week. Addressing delegates virtually during Canada’s annual Prospectors and Developers Association... →

Photo by Creamer Media's Donna Slater
Mineral Resources and Energy Minister Gwede Mantashe

DRC, as a keystone in AfCFTA, can link regional value chains

By: Schalk Burger 3rd March 2021 Trade and development experts have detailed the key role the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) can play in providing mineral resources for industrial and manufacturing value chains, supporting agricultural and agroprocessing value chains and serving as an epicentre for intra-African trade to... →

Saceec CEO Eric Bruggeman

WBHO posts interim profit despite losses in Australia

By: Marleny Arnoldi 2nd March 2021 JSE-listed construction group Wilson Bayley Holmes-Ovcon (WBHO) has posted an interim profit attributable to shareholders of R43-million for the six months ended December 31, 2020. This compares with a loss attributable to shareholders of R508-million posted for the financial year ended June... →

Opinion: Regulation 28 can proffer the flywheel effect to the infrastructure roll-out plan

2nd March 2021 Without adequate mobilisation of financing, infrastructure roll-out is unattainable, writes Nelson Mandela University Infrastructure Development & Engagement Unit associate Bongani Mankewu. Critical to the development of the African continent is the paucity of financing models reified to achieve... →

Africa urged to unlock private finance to raise yearly renewables investment to $105bn

By: Terence Creamer 1st March 2021 The International Renewable Energy Agency (Irena) is urging African policymakers to use their limited public resources strategically, and alongside policy and regulatory instruments, to unlock the $105-billion required yearly to install the 1 026 GW of renewable energy needed by 2050 to meet the... →

Irena director-general Francesco La Camera

De Ruyter urges greater industrial policy integration with renewables roll-out

By: Terence Creamer 1st March 2021 South Africa would be foregoing an “extraordinary opportunity” should it fail to develop local manufacturing capacity around its large-scale and multidecade deployment of renewable energy, Eskom CEO Andre de Ruyter argued on Monday. Speaking during the opening session of the virtual Africa Energy... →

South Africa seeks to lift infrastructure investment with change to pension fund rules

By: Reuters 1st March 2021 South Africa's National Treasury is proposing changing rules governing pension funds to encourage investment in infrastructure projects. Africa's most industrialised nation - the hardest-hit by the coronavirus pandemic on the continent - has put public works in sectors such as transport, energy... →

Planning commission wants new climate-change commission to drive ‘just transition’ social compact

By: Terence Creamer 26th February 2021 The outgoing National Planning Commission (NPC) is preparing to hand over the extensive work it has done to build consensus on South Africa’s ‘just transition’ to a low-carbon and climate-resilient society to the newly formed Presidential Coordinating Commission on Climate Change (PCCCC). When... →

Energy Regulator approves 40 MW solar licence for Gold Fields' South Deep

By: Creamer Media Reporter 25th February 2021 The National Energy Regulator of South Africa (Nersa) announced on Thursday that the Energy Regulator, at its meeting held on February 25, approved the issuance of a generation licence for a 40 MW solar photovoltaic (PV) plant to be developed at the South Deep gold mine, in Gauteng. The licence... →

Gate upgrade to improve truck turnaround at Ngqura

By: Schalk Burger 25th February 2021 A R20-million upgrade project of the Ngqura Container Terminal's automated gate system will reduce truck turnaround times and improve traffic flow, State-owned Transnet Port Terminals Cape Terminals managing executive Wandisa Vazi says. The automated gate system was introduced in 2009 when... →

Government commits to improving infrastructure spending

By: Tasneem Bulbulia 24th February 2021 The 2021 Budget, presented by Finance Minister Tito Mboweni on February 24, outlines that R93.1-billion has been earmarked for economic regulation and infrastructure, from consolidated government expenditure of R2.02-trillion each year over the medium term. To boost infrastructure spending,... →

Two South African airports just got official new names

By: News24Wire 24th February 2021 Two secondary airports – and one fairly big city – have official new names from Tuesday. Arts and culture minister Nathi Mthethwa recognised the new names by publication in the Government Gazette, alongside a handful of registrations of existing geographic names, and some spelling corrections. →

M&R warns of interim loss as a result of Covid-19 restrictions

By: Creamer Media Reporter 23rd February 2021 JSE-listed Murray & Roberts (M&R) expects to report a loss a share of between 38c and 45c for the six months ended December 31, 2020, compared with earnings a share of 41c reported for the six months ended December 31, 2019. It further expects to report a headline loss a share of between 24c and... →

Just energy transition remains priority to ensure sustainable future

By: Donna Slater 23rd February 2021 South Africa’s energy sector needs to broadly embrace a just energy transition to ensure it improves energy security and stability, as well as meets its obligations towards mitigating climate change, says nonprofit economic research institution Trade and Industrial Policy Strategies senior... →

Aveng hopes to build on first positive earnings since 2014 as restructuring nears end

By: Terence Creamer 23rd February 2021 Infrastructure and contract mining group Aveng, which is at the tail-end of a far-reaching restructuring exercise that has been under way since 2017, has reported its first positive earnings since 2014, recording headline earnings of R109-million for the six months to December 31. The recovery... →

Photo by Creamer Media's Donna Slater
Aveng CEO Sean Flanagan

Port Elizabeth hotel being converted to 500-bed NMU student village

By: Schalk Burger 23rd February 2021 The Summerstrand Hotel, a Port Elizabeth landmark, is being converted into a 500-bed residence for students at the Nelson Mandela University (NMU) and is due to open in March. The Summerstrand Student Village is a 600 m walk from NMU’s main campus. The new village gives students an opportunity to... →

NGO International Rivers calls on SA not to support Grand Inga scheme

By: Schalk Burger 23rd February 2021 International rivers and river communities rights nongovernmental organisation International Rivers has called on South Africa to withdraw its agreement to offtake electricity from the Inga 3 hydropower project being built in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). South Africa continues to... →

SALT doubles grid-tied solar system, supported by year-long test

By: Schalk Burger 22nd February 2021 The Southern African Large Telescope (SALT), in the Northern Cape, has added a new 53 kW solar installation to its grid-tied 40 kVA solar rooftop system. This follows after a system installed on the workshops of the South African Astronomical Observatory (SAAO) provided one year of operational... →

Concor partnership wins major MeerKAT/SKA radio telescope construction contract

By: Rebecca Campbell 22nd February 2021 South African contractor Concor, in partnership with OptiPower, has been awarded a R212-million contract for the structural foundations and associated infrastructure for 24 additional dishes for South Africa’s MeerKAT radio telescope array. MeerKAT currently has 64 dishes. The partners have also... →

Sasol upscales renewables roll-out ambition to 900 MW, starts plotting big green-hydrogen role

By: Terence Creamer 22nd February 2021 JSE-listed Sasol announced on Monday that it would pursue a 900 MW renewable-energy roll-out at its Secunda and Sasolburg complexes by 2030, raising its initial deployment target of 600 MW by 50%. President and CEO Fleetwood Grobler said that the upscaled plan would be pursued in partnership with... →

The Secunda complex, in Mpumalanga

Covid accelerated some digitalisation, future workplaces still emerging

By: Schalk Burger 22nd February 2021 While the Covid-19 pandemic disrupted and further digitalised businesses and work, the work space and workforce of the future in each industry and in each company are still emerging, civil engineering multinational Stefanutti Stocks group information technology director Kevin Wilson said during a... →

Sanral to invest R500m in Buffalo City road project

By: Irma Venter 19th 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... →

Aveng to open rights offer on March 1, says to post an interim profit

By: Marleny Arnoldi 18th February 2021 JSE-listed construction group Aveng has announced that has finalised all conditions to raise R300-million by way of a rights offer, with the opening scheduled for March 1 and closing on March 12. The company aims to restructure its balance sheet, deleveraging it by R1-billion, which will extend... →

DMRE says emergency-power deviation notice will not trigger legal challenge

18th February 2021 On February 12, Trade, Industry and Competition Minister Ebrahim Patel published a Gazette notice granting the Department of Mineral Resources and Energy (DMRE) permission to deviate from the relevant Broad-Based Black Economic Empowerment code of good practice for the Risk Mitigation Independent... →

Chubb launches Civil Engineering Completed Risks insurance in South Africa

By: Schalk Burger 17th February 2021 Insurance multinational Chubb has launched its Civil Engineering Completed Risks (CECR) insurance offering in the South African market. The CECR is aimed at medium-sized and large organisations operating in all areas of infrastructure. →

SAHRC recommends Emfuleni municipality be placed under administration amid ongoing Vaal river pollution

By: Schalk Burger 17th February 2021 The South African Human Rights Commission warns that the Vaal river, "Gauteng's most vital water resource", may have been irreparably damaged and recommends that the Emfuleni municipality be placed under administration and that public servants, municipal administrators and staff who failed to... →

Construction on Inga 3 hydropower project could start by year end, ambassador says

By: News24Wire 17th February 2021 Democratic Republic of Congo's ambassador to Ethiopia and the African Union, Jean Le'on Ngandu Ilunga has hinted that construction on the Inga 3 hydro-power project could start by the end of the year. "We believe in the coming month we will see concrete steps towards implementation. Towards the... →

AfDB debars Kenyan civil engineering firm for fraudulent practices

By: Schalk Burger 16th February 2021 Development finance institution the African Development Bank Group (AfDB) on February 16 announced the 36-month debarment of civil engineering company Global Interjapan (Kenya), with effect from August 24, 2020, which renders Global Interjapan (Kenya) and its affiliates ineligible to participate... →

Eskom could launch bidding for repurposing and repowering of Komati within two months

By: Terence Creamer 16th February 2021 State-owned power utility Eskom is preparing a pioneering request for proposals (RFP) for the repowering and repurposing of the Komati power station, in Mpumalanga, which is among the first four coal plants scheduled for decommissioning in the coming few years. Eskom just energy transition office... →

The Komati power station

Lifting distributed-generation cap ‘one of the easier decisions’ facing government – De Ruyter

By: Terence Creamer 15th February 2021 Eskom CEO Andre de Ruyter has described the plan, announced by President Cyril Ramaphosa in his State of the Nation (SONA) address, to lift the licence-exemption threshold for distributed-generation plants as “one of the easier decisions” government could make in the near-term to alleviate stress... →

Photo by Creamer Media's Donna Slater
Eskom CEO Andre de Ruyter

KZN Premier launches R252m science, technology academy

By: Yvonne Silaule 15th February 2021 KwaZulu-Natal Premier Sihle Zikalala on February 15 officially opened the R252-million Anton Lembede Mathematics, Sciences and Technology Academy, in Durban. The academy comprises 20 classrooms, one specialist classroom, a library, three computer laboratories and an administration block. →

Ramaphosa’s SoNA holds bold promises, but lacks finer details, says BLSA

By: Donna Slater 15th February 2021 In his February 13 State of the Nation Address (SoNA), President Cyril Ramaphosa highlighted factors that will serve to lift the economy, tackle Covid-19 and boost ailing electricity infrastructure, says Business Leadership South Africa (BLSA) CEO Busi Mavuso. Of particular interest, she says,... →

About

Engineering News is a product of Creamer Media.
www.creamermedia.co.za

Other Creamer Media Products include:
Mining Weekly
Research Channel Africa
Polity

Newsletters

Sign up for our FREE daily email newsletter

Receive daily sector news alerts

More

Subscriptions

We offer a variety of subscriptions to our Magazine, Website, PDF Reports and our photo library.

Subscriptions are available via the Creamer Media Store.

View store

Advertise

Advertising on Engineering News is an effective way to build and consolidate a company's profile among clients and prospective clients. Email advertising@creamermedia.co.za

View options

Subscribe