Новости за 14.06.2021

Development finance institutions (DFIs) of the Group of Seven (G7) economies, together with several multilateral partners, have announced their commitment to investing $80-billion in the private sector over the next five years to support sustainable economic recovery and growth in Africa. Among those contributing are the International Finance Corporation, the private sector arm of the African Development Bank, the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development and the European Investment Bank (EIB).

Employers should find a reasonable resolution that accommodates all parties where employees refuse to be vaccinated for medical and constitutional grounds. This is contained in the new consolidated directive on occupational health and safety (OHS) measures in certain workplaces, which was gazetted by Employment and Labour Minister Thulas Nxesi.

The Department of Water and Sanitation (DWS) has extended the period available for the public and key sector stakeholders to comment on the unconventional gas regulations, as published in government notice 406 in Government Gazette 44545 in May, by 60 days. This follows after stakeholders requested the extension, stating that 30 days was insufficient to consult with several specialists within their organisations.

Africa presents a unique case for the type of transformational investing that is required for sustainability, to meet the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and to achieve net-zero carbon emissions by 2050, according to panellists participating in a Sanlam Investments Forum on June 14. Harvard Business School representative Euvin Naidoo, speaking in his personal capacity, said that the world appeared to be behind on its ambitions to reach and meet some of the SDG and that tough changes would need to be made.

Rebeca Grynspan of Costa Rica will be the new Secretary-General of UN trade and development body Unctad. Her nomination to the post by UN Secretary-General António Guterres was approved by the UN General Assembly on June 11.

Independent power producer (IPP) Globeleq, together with State-owned utility Electricidade de Moçambique (EDM) and Source Energia, has started construction of a 19 MW solar photovoltaic plant, in Mozambique. The Cuamba solar plant also has a 2 MW storage system and will contribute to Mozambique achieving its universal energy access by 2030 goal.

Sudan is open to a partial interim agreement on Ethiopia's multibillion-dollar Renaissance Dam on the Blue Nile, on specific conditions, Irrigation Minister Yasir Abbas told a news conference on Monday. The conditions include the signing-off of everything that has already been agreed on in negotiations between both countries and Egypt; provisions to ensure that the talks continue even after the filling scheduled for July; and the negotiations adhering to a timetable, Abbas said.

The South African National Roads Agency Limited (Sanral) is undertaking a number of road improvement activities in several provinces. It has noted in a series of media releases that it has recently awarded a contract for the resurfacing of National Road R33, Section 6, from Mkhondo to Amsterdam, in Mpumalanga.

After slipping to 27 in the first quarter of the year, the FNB/BER Building Confidence Index has increased to 39 in the second quarter of the year. Even though this is the highest level of the index since the first quarter of 2018, at the current level, more than 60% of respondents says they are still dissatisfied with current business conditions.

It has been quite some time since South Africa’s agricultural sector has had as good a season as the current one, Agricultural Business Chamber (Agbiz) states in the latest Agbiz/Industrial Development Corporation Agribusiness Confidence Index (ACI). The index reached a record high of 75 in the second quarter of the year, compared with 64 in the first quarter of the year.

A losing bidder in a South African tender for the provision of 2 000 MW of power is seeking to interdict the winners from completing their agreements. The application to South Africa’s High Court by DNG Energy threatens to halt the provision of electricity needed to ease recurrent outages in Africa’s most industrialized economy and imperils investment estimated by the government at at least R45-billion.

The Competition Tribunal has approved JSE-listed petrochemicals group Sasol’s intended sale of 16 air separation units (ASUs), in Secunda, to Air Liquide Large Industries South Africa, which designed and installed the plants alongside Sasol over the years. The tribunal had carefully considered factors relating to the future ownership of the units, including the companies’ joint procurement of renewable power of up to 900 MW, decarbonisation investments by Air Liquide and that there would be no negative impacts on employment.

Public sector investment in infrastructure will be one of the defining features of South Africa’s economic recovery as the country emerges from the current economic slump, states Construction Industry Development Board (CIDB) CEO Cyril Gamede. In an opinion piece, he says it is, thus, of the “utmost importance that there is broad agreement between government departments and entities which issue tenders and the construction sector on critical issues relating to empowerment, contractor development and uniform standards”.

Ethiopia called for expressions of interest for a minority stake in the State-controlled telecommunications company, starting the process of recruiting a second major investor into the country in less than a month. Investors have a month, beginning June 15, to submit interest for 40% of Ethiopia Telecommunications Corp, Brook Taye, a senior advisor at the finance ministry, told reporters in Ethiopian capital, Addis Ababa. Requests for proposals will be issued thereafter, Brook said.

Ammonia-based emission-free, high energy-density power solutions developer Amogy has announced the close of a major funding round. Led by AP Ventures, a significant investor in breakthrough hydrogen technologies, the round included San Francisco-based funds DCVC and Collaborative Fund, and investor Shaun Arora.

The privatisation of South African Airways (SAA) and the increase of the embedded generation licencing threshold to 100 MW are the kind of dramatic interventions needed to get the economy going, says Business Leadership South Africa (BLSA). CEO Busi Mavuso believes these events have signalled government’s willingness to break away from orthodoxy and hold up its side of the bargain in the economic recovery plan to get South Africa growing again.

The latest economic data highlights that both economic growth and employment have not recovered to pre-Covid-19 levels; however, economic recovery should be boosted by government’s announcement to free up electricity generation, Trade and Industrial Policy Strategies’ (TIPS’s) first-quarter Real Economy Bulletin (REB) for 2021 indicates. The REB represents a deep dive into the latest economic data.

The Competition Tribunal has unconditionally approved the Motus Group’s acquisition of the North Motor Group’s Kia Bryanston and Honda Sandton motor dealerships.   The Tribunal has concluded that the transaction does not substantially prevent or lessen competition in any relevant market.   Further, the merging parties made an unequivocal undertaking that there shall be no retrenchments as a result of the transaction and that the employees of the dealerships will be transferred to Motus Group in line with the Labour Relations Act. Читать дальше...

IQbusiness and Business Unity South Africa (Busa) have launched an initiative aimed at moving South Africa into economic recovery and digital growth. The SAtion initiative will enable public and private sector stakeholders, including government, large corporations, small, medium-sized and microenterprises, industrialists, private investors, thought leaders and educational institutions, to convene to discuss, coordinate and implement Fourth Industrial Revolution (4IR) projects.

The 13.5 MW, R135-million solar carport project at Ford South Africa’s Silverton assembly plant, in Pretoria, should be completed in the fourth quarter of this year, says Uhuru Energy CEO Mark Kaplan. The project forms part of a larger programme ­– Project Blue Oval – to develop an integrated renewable-energy solution for the facility, with the aim for the plant to be entirely green and energy self-sufficient by 2024.

The outlook of the negotiations surrounding the current impasse over high-demand spectrum is encouraging, with the Independent Communications Authority of South Africa (Icasa) confident that an amicable agreement will be reached by the end of August. In a statement issued late on June 11, the authority said that the ongoing settlement negotiations on spectrum litigation are unfolding well with an ongoing exchange of constructive engagements between the parties.