Новости за 16.03.2021

Water and Sanitation Deputy Minister David Mahlobo on March 16 oversaw the start of work on the Greater Breyten Water Supply Scheme project, in Warburton, Mpumalanga. The project is scheduled for completion in May 2024 and will benefit the communities of Breyten, Chrissiesmeer, Lothair and Warburton in the Msukaligwa local municipality.

In addition to its review of the South African agricultural sector during the whole of last year, the Bureau for Food and Agricultural Production (BFAP) also included, in its latest report, an overview of the sector’s performance during the last quarter of 2020 (4Q20). In terms of the national economy as a whole, 4Q20 saw a seasonally adjusted and annualised increase in gross domestic product (GDP) of 6.3%. During the third quarter, the increase had been 67.3%, as it had rebounded with the relaxation of the Covid-19 restrictions... Читать дальше...

Despite the South African economy having contracted by 7% year-on-year in 2020, marking the worst annual performance in the history of the country’s economic data recording , the Covid Business Rescue Assistance (Cobra) initiative has managed to save dozens of businesses and thousands of jobs. Through the success of its collaborative business assistance model, Cobra says it shows South Africa’s need for innovative solutions to save and bolster the businesses that have survived the economic ravages of the last year.

South Africa has an opportunity to win back its lost share of the global vanadium market, which at one stage stood at 25%-plus, says Bushveld Minerals CEO Fortune Mojapelo. Mojapelo, who was speaking to Mining Weekly in a Zoom interview, contends that South Africa has the wherewithal to regain lost market share owing to it being the host of the largest high-grade vanadium resource base in the world, and as the operator of three of the world’s four primary vanadium processing plants. (Also watch attached... Читать дальше...

Ford South Africa has donated R2.5-million to help fund the enhancement of the National Occupational Health Surveillance System (OHSS), a programme implemented by the National Institute for Occupational Health (NIOH). The OHSS monitors workers in the public and private sectors, using data supplied by employers on Covid-19 infections in the workplace under the direction of the Department of Employment and Labour.

State-owned Transnet National Ports Authority (TNPA) has appointed the Coega Development Corporation (CDC) as an implementation agent for a construction programme to ensure the Ngqura liquid bulk terminal is operational before the Port of Port Elizabeth liquid bulk facility is closed on December 31, 2021. In November 2020, the successful bidder chosen to build, operate and transfer the Port of Ngqura liquid bulk facility communicated its decision to discontinue the construction project, as it had... Читать дальше...

The management of South African Airways (SAA) and the State-owned airline's business rescue practitioners were blasted by some members of Parliament for not being ready to report to the Standing Committee on Public Accounts (Scopa) on Tuesday about progress made to date. In a letter dated 15 March, the joint rescue practitioners Siviwe Dongwana and Leslie Matuson informed Scopa's chairperson, Mkhuleko Hlengwa (IFP), that they only received notice of the Scopa briefing in an email from the Department of Public Enterprises (DPE)... Читать дальше...

Under South African carbon tax regulations, companies are able to use carbon credits either from their own registered projects or from third parties to offset a portion of their carbon tax liability. This creates opportunities to develop carbon projects, as well as prospects on both the buying and selling side - helping South Africa to manage environmental impact, says consultancy Cova Advisory.

The phased switch-off of South Africa’s analogue television transmitters has started and will continue province-by-province until the end of March 2022, when the last transmitters will be shut off in Gauteng. The Department of Communications and Digital Technologies, together with broadcasters, implemented the phased switch-off in the Free State, starting with Boesmanskop and surrounding towns in the Xhariep District Municipality on March 15 and Ladybrand and surrounding towns on March 16.

South African agriculture had a “remarkable year” last year, the Bureau for Food and Agricultural Production (BFAP) has reported. This was despite the Covid-19 pandemic, which caused all other sectors of the South African economy (except government services) to contract.  While the national economy as a whole experienced its greatest contraction since at least 1946, amounting to a decline of 7% in gross domestic product (GDP), the agricultural sector experienced an annualised real GDP growth rate... Читать дальше...

The Afrimat Construction Index (ACI) for the fourth quarter of 2020 has continued on a “pronounced recovery path that started in the previous quarter”. Owing  to the lockdown regulations induced by the Covid-19 pandemic, the ACI dropped sharply in the second quarter of 2020, but has bounced back and has remained above the base period level of 100 for two successive quarters now,” says economist Dr Roelof Botha on behalf of JSE-listed Afrimat.

Coal-heavy electricity utility Eskom has reiterated its commitment to complying with South Africa’s tightening minimum emission standards, but CEO Andre de Ruyter has also indicated that it is considering capital-light alternatives, as well as noncoal repowering solutions to meet its obligations, which could otherwise involve investments of some R300-billion. In November, the Department of Environment, Forestry & Fisheries confirmed that the National Prosecuting Authority would proceed with the... Читать дальше...

Sudan's prime minister has written to the African Union, the United Nations, the European Union and the US to formally request their mediation on the Nile water being used to fill Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD), the Sudanese foreign ministry said on Monday. Prime Minister Abdalla Hamdok expressed concern over Ethiopia's stated intention of adding more water to the reservoir behind the hydropower dam for a second year in letters sent on Saturday, the statement added.

A survey conducted by advisory multinational PwC of 32 517 workers in 19 countries, including South Africa, shows that 40% of workers improved their digital skills during pandemic lockdowns and 77% are ready to learn new skills or completely re-train. However, 46% of people with post-graduate degrees say their employer gives them many opportunities to improve their digital skills in contrast to 28% of people with school-leaver qualifications reporting the same. Only 25% of people in the retail industry... Читать дальше...

The Rand Corporation’s been designing war games with the Pentagon since the 1950s, modelling such hard-nosed security scenarios as a two-front US war with China and Russia. Now the think tank is turning its realpolitik tool kit to a question more often associated with environmental dreamers: How will clean energy change the world? Rand is among the small but growing number of research organizations, universities and at least one European government that have started gaming out the gritty geopolitical... Читать дальше...

The Eastern and Southern African Trade and Development Bank (TDB) on March 15 launched an off-grid facility for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). The $75-million facility is aimed at facilitating access to debt financing for SMEs, primarily targeting renewable energy businesses in the off-grid energy sector, as well as SMEs in the broader infrastructure value chain operating in the region served by TDB.

International organisation Sustainable Energy for All (SEforALL) has launched a new year-long campaign called “Be Bold” to drive ambitious action towards Sustainable Development Goal number seven (SDG7), which calls for affordable and reliable energy for all by 2030. The campaign follows the realisation that affordable and clean energy for all can help alleviate the global crises of extreme poverty and climate change.

JSE-listed construction group Aveng has successfully completed its rights offer, raising more than R300-million through the issue of about 20-billion shares at 1.5c apiece. The company says the shareholder participation rate of 92.61% in the rights offer exceeded expectations, raising total new capital of R392-million, comprising R277-million in terms of the rights offer shares taken up by shareholders and the additional balance taken up by underwriters.

The world’s three biggest consumers of coal, the dirtiest fossil fuel, are getting ready to boost usage so much that it’ll almost be as if the pandemic-induced drop in emissions never happened. US power plants are going to consume 16% more coal this year than in 2020, and then another 3% in 2022, the Energy Information Administration said last week. China and India, which together account for almost two-thirds of demand, have no plans to cut back in the near term.

Global industry organisation the International Aluminium Institute (IAI) has published three main pathways that the industry can take to reduce its emissions by 80% by 2050 and meet internationally agreed climate goals, supply demand for primary aluminium that will increase by up to 40% and more than triple recycled aluminium from post-consumer resources to 2050. The IAI's 'Aluminium Sector Greenhouse Gas Pathways to 2050' report sets out the approaches to emissions reductions for the aluminium industry... Читать дальше...

The UK Small Modular Reactor (UKSMR) consortium, which is led by industrial technology group Rolls-Royce, has joined European nuclear industry association Foratom. This is part of UKSMR’s objective of developing global connections and accessing export markets. UKSMR is designing an SMR nuclear power plant that would be constructed from standardised components manufactured in factories, using advanced manufacturing processes. This approach would drive down costs and rapidly speed up construction times... Читать дальше...