Новости за 09.07.2021

Nonfprofit think tank Res4Africa Foundation has appointed technology company Schneider Electric’s Middle East and Africa president Caspar Herzberg to its executive committee. Res4Africa has, since 2012, been promoting a green energy transition in Africa and appointed Herzberg for four years to contribute to stakeholder engagement in government and the private sector.

The expected increase in solid waste generated by cities each year, from two-billion tonnes a year now to 3.4-billion tonnes a year by 2050, means new plans for dealing with waste and protecting biodiversity are necessary. This will require changing the global "throw away" culture, says waste management and recycling company Interwaste business development and marketing director Kate Stubbs.

Public-private partnership the V&A Waterfront has appointed Dr Shirley Zinn as independent chairperson of its board of directors.  The V&A Waterfront is jointly owned by the Government Employees Pension Fund, which is represented by the Public Investment Corporation, and Growthpoint Properties.

The UK Space Agency has made a further grant of £3.9-million (R76.75-million) to British high-tech engineering company Reaction Engines, to further support the development of revolutionary SABRE technology. SABRE stands for Synergistic Air-Breathing Rocket Engine, which, as its name says, is an air-breathing rocket engine design – that is, it will be able to operate in both air-breathing mode in the atmosphere, like a jet engine, or in rocket mode in outer space. This will allow it to combine ...

Côte d'Ivoire chemical engineer Noël N’guessan has won the Royal Academy of Engineering’s 2021 Africa Prize for Engineering Innovation. He developed biowaste equipment for smallholder farmers in West Africa to efficiently manage and generate income from biowaste.

Illegal cigarette manufacturing is increasingly impacting on legitimate tobacco farmers, processors and cigarette manufactures, says the South Africa Tobacco Transformation Alliance (Satta). The extent of this damage has been exposed in a research report into illegal cigarette trading by market research agency Ipsos, showing that daily gains are being made by the criminal networks driving the illegal sector, the organisation states.

Sun International has agreed easier borrowing terms with its lenders, two sources told Reuters, giving South Africa's biggest casino firm a year of financial breathing space as a third wave of Covid-19 crashes over the tourism industry. The deal with Standard Bank, Absa Group and Nedbank essentially helps Sun stave off any prospect of default, said one of the sources, who was directly involved in the deal.

Now that the licence exemption threshold for self-generation has been extended to 100 MW, it encourages the development of a robust embedded energy sector, says law firm Cliffe Dekker Hofmeyr (CDH). CDH says the risks to South Africa’s energy security, in addition to the economic impacts of Covid-19, have intensified the business sector’s long-standing call for increased private power generation capacity.

The South African Revenue Service (Sars) and business advocacy organisation Business Unity South Africa (Busa) on July 9 announced the formation of the Sars Private Sector Authorised Economic Operator (AEO) Stakeholder Group to improve border management. Over the next four years, the programme will expand to include all supply chain actors, a simplified programme for small, medium-sized and microenterprises, a single government AEO programme and a single Southern African Customs Union AEO programme with augmented benefits.

State-owned freight logistics group Transnet says increased surveillance and security measures put in place along the Transnet Pipelines network has led to a further two suspects being arrested for attempting to tamper with the pipelines. This brings the total arrests for the past three months to 40.

Hyperloop Transport Technologies (HyperloopTT) has revealed HyperPort, a high-speed cargo and freight solution which it says it “capable of increasing capacity and efficiency while decreasing pollution and congestion at ports worldwide”.  Developed in partnership with terminal operator Hamburger Hafen und Logistik (HHLA), in Germany, the system will now enter certification design review.

The mayor of Johannesburg, South Africa’s economic hub and largest city, has died after contracting the coronavirus. Geoff Makhubo took office in December 2019 after the ruling party wrested control of the city from an opposition coalition. He was hospitalized after becoming infected with Covid-19 and he succumbed to the disease on Friday, the city said in a statement. Eunice Mgcina was named the acting mayor.

Industry organisation Business for South Africa (B4SA) has welcomed the Department of Health’s decision to allow 35- to 49-year-olds to register for their Covid-19 vaccinations from July 15 and to receive their jabs from August 1 onwards. “The only way to fight the third wave, save lives, restart the economy and lift restrictions on our way of life is to vaccinate the nation as quickly as possible. Vaccinating everyone aged over 35 protects those most at risk from serious illness, hospitalisation... Читать дальше...

As Ethiopia begins diverting 13.5-billion cubic meters of water from the Blue Nile river to its controversial new megadam, residents of Sudan to the south fear a repetition of last year’s devastating drought. The second stage of filling the $4.5-billion reservoir is ratcheting up tensions between Ethiopia and neighbours Sudan and Egypt, who depend on the Nile to support farming and generate power for their economies.

With the end of the Covid-19 pandemic now in sight, the global aviation industry has major re-training and training requirements to address, International Air Transport Association (Iata) senior VP commercial products and services Frédéric Leger has pointed out. He was addressing the second day of the virtual Iata Global Media Days 2021 on Thursday afternoon. (Iata is the representative body of the global airline industry.) He pointed out that, on the one hand, aviation was a technical and regulated... Читать дальше...

Transport infrastructure management company Tolcon has been given the go-ahead to continue with two freeway management system contracts totalling R1.7-billion, awarded by the South African National Roads Agency Limited (Sanral) in 2020, but delayed by court action from disgruntled competing bidders. “Subsequent to the court judgment that was handed down on June 17, the Tolcon contract was reinstated on July 1,” confirms Sanral traffic management project manager Siveshni Pillay.

Creamer Media's Chanel de Bruyn speaks to Engineering News Editor Terence Creamer about Mineral Resources and Energy Minister Gwede Mantashe's latest update on amendments to be made to Schedule 2 of the Electricity Regulation Act to lift the licensing-exemption threshold for embedded generation projects to 100 MW and what this means for the energy sector.

Telecommunications giant Telkom could have built 35 to 40 base stations with the money spent on replacing the 7 841 stolen batteries last year. Telkom mobile networks managing executive Hugo van Zyl said that the scale of theft and vandalism of South Africa’s network sites is “enormous” and the cost of repairing and protecting its sites affects the ability to roll out connectivity in areas that need it most.

A video round up of this week’s magazine, highlighting our cover story, features and Business Leader.

Environmental phenomena such as climate change and its manifestations, including extreme weather events, are featuring more prominently on the risk radar of investors, banks and commercial farmers, as agricultural activity intensifies in order to provide sufficient food for a growing population. To illustrate how seriously the issue is regarded, the World Economic Forum ranks environmental risks among the top five global risks in its ‘2020 Global Risk Report’.