Новости за 11.03.2024

The Development Bank of Southern Africa (DBSA) has been appointed to act as a co-mandated lead arranger alongside Absa and Nedbank to provide debt funding and black economic empowerment equity funding for three large-scale wind farms and 120 km of transmission lines in the Eastern Cape The overall project, comprising 330 MW of renewable energy capacity, will supply industrial customers Sasol and Air Liquide under a 20-year power purchase agreement.

Environmental justice groups groundWork and the South Durban Community Environmental Alliance (SDCEA), represented by the Centre for Environmental Rights (CER), have filed a review application to challenge the decision to uphold an environmental authorisation, granted in November 2022, for the proposed 2 000 MW Phakwe gas power plant in Richards Bay. The groups say the plant is guaranteed to cause climate harm.

Financial services firm Nedbank Corporate and Investment Banking (CIB) has provided diversified industrial investment company Thesele Group with a financing solution that boosts Thesele's growth potential and cash flow. Thesele Group aims to be an investment partner that creates lasting economic and social value. The group collaborates with companies that have strong growth prospects and help them unlock more value, Nedbank says.

The FNB/BER Building Confidence Index dropped by 16 points to 27 in the first quarter of this year, from 43 in the fourth quarter of 2023, and four of the six sectors surveyed recorded a decline in sentiment of more than 20 points. The drop of 16 points means the index is at the joint lowest level since mid-2020.

Following numerous tests that revealed higher than acceptable levels of aflatoxin, food and beverage company Clover has recalled 10 776 units of its Go Nuts Peanut Butter 400 g. The recall by Clover comes after the National Consumer Commission (NCC) received recalls for certain peanut butter products, manufactured and sold by various companies, last month as the products failed to meet the acceptable levels of aflatoxin.

The South African Poultry Association (SAPA) says it is puzzled by the International Trade Administration Commission’s (Itac’s) recommendation to Trade, Industry and Competition Minister Ebrahim Patel that certain rebates for frozen poultry imports could be implemented to curb alleged shortages in the market. SAPA believes these rebates would be unnecessary, unjustified and damaging to the local poultry industry, since neither poultry farmers nor industry analysts are expecting any shortages now... Читать дальше...

Airlink, the South African domestic and regional international carrier, announced on Monday afternoon that it would resume its scheduled flights to Richards Bay, on Tuesday morning. This follows the reinstatement of approval for the Richards Bay airport’s fire and rescue service, by the South African Civil Aviation Authority (SACAA). Flights were suspended on Friday when the SACAA downgraded the airport, due to issues regarding its fire and rescue service.

The intensified pressure posed by an influx of trucks on the Port of Durban’s road infrastructure has prompted State-owned utility Transnet National Ports Authority (TNPA) to invest R233-million on the rehabilitation of roads in key container handling port precincts – the Container and Maydon Wharf and the liquid bulk Island View precinct – in KwaZulu-Natal. The Port of Durban is a crucial contributor to the South African economy, handling about 60% of the country’s total container volumes.

Electricity Minister Kgosientsho Ramokgopa says Eskom’s new CEO, Dan Marokane, will offer a comprehensive outline of a revised generation recovery plan that will seek to integrate recommendations arising from various expert reports into the state of the coal power stations, including the hard-hitting Vgbe report commissioned by the National Treasury. However, Eskom Generation’s Eric Shunmagum also reported “some inaccuracies” with the report’s findings, which required further engagement with the... Читать дальше...

South African gold producer Aurous, which owns and operates the Blyvoor gold mine and the Gauta tailings retreatment project on Gauteng's West Rand, has announced plans to go public through a business combination with US-based Rigel Resource Acquisition Corp.  The transaction, which puts Aurous at a pre-money equity value of some R6.76-billion ($362-million), is expected to enable Blyvoor to expand its underground infrastructure, enhance surface infrastructure, and optimise operations through economies of scale.

Full ownership and execution of factors that are within management’s control are being elevated to the highest possible level by African Rainbow Minerals (ARM) CEO Phillip Tobias. ARM has sharpened its pencil in as far as things that are within its control are concerned and success is being achieved tackling costs, increasing volumes, and managing grades.

Construction group Wilson Bayly Holmes-Ovcon (WBHO) is installing large-scale solar panel arrays on the rooftops of three buildings of its headquarters in Johannesburg. The first of the three buildings will be fully operational this month, with the other two to follow between the end of April and the beginning of May.

US-based research and advisory group Lux Research senior director Christopher Robinson has warned that the switch away from fossil-based aviation fuels to environmentally sustainable alternatives could significantly increase the cost of flying, particularly for long-haul flights. He did so in a recent blog post. He reported that the decarbonisation of aviation was one of the topics that the company’s clients raised most with Lux, last year. Currently, total annual aviation carbon emissions came to just under 1 Gt. Читать дальше...

The share price of JSE-listed energy storage and automotive components company Metair rose by more than 26% on March 11, after the company announced that it expected to report earnings a share of 44c to 53c and headline earnings a share of 128c to 140c for the 2023 financial year. This compares with the loss a share of 21c and the headline loss a share of 17c reported for the 2022 financial year.

Real estate company Fortress Real Estate Investments says it successfully simplified its capital structure through the implementation of a single class of share, as well as achieved other operational successes during the six months ended December 31, 2023. CEO and MD Steven Brown on March 11 lauded shareholders’ approval of the introduction of a single class of share in January this year.

Electricity Minister Kgosientsho Ramokgopa and the Independent Power Producer Office (IPPO) have both confirmed that the curtailment framework outlined by Eskom in January is immediately available to wind IPPs preparing to bid under Bid Window Seven (BW7) of South Africa’s public renewables procurement programme, launched in December. Published as an addendum to the latest Generation Connection Capacity Assessment (GCCA 2025), the framework states that 3 470 MW of additional grid capacity to connect... Читать дальше...

South African private-sector domestic and regional airline Airlink announced on Friday evening that it had had to suspend its flights to and from Richards Bay. This followed a decision of the South African Civil Aviation Authority (SACAA) regarding safety issues at Richards Bay Airport. SACAA downgraded the airport’s fire and rescue service. This disqualified the airport from handling operations by commercial airlines.

While the gross domestic product (GDP) for the fourth quarter of 2023 was 0.1%, growth was negative in terms of GDP per capita, given that population growth is outpacing it. "We have been trending lower since 2013, and have now crowned a decade of negative per capita growth. South Africans now earn, in real terms, on average, what they earned in 2006," business organisation Business Leadership South Africa (BLSA) CEO Busi Mavuso points out in her latest weekly newsletter.

As government garners public comment on key proposed amendments to legislation governing public-private partnerships (PPPs), Infrastructure Finance Advisory Institute director Bongani Mankewu says the framework reform is the right course of action but needs to be free of “bureaucratic clumsiness”. Simplification and reforming the PPP framework to crowd in private investment into sectors such as water, transport, and human settlements is the correct path, he states, as public finance in this regard has proven to be cumbersome.

President Cyril Ramaphosa noted on Monday that Eskom, under the leadership of its new Group CEO, is finalising an agreement with business to deploy additional independent skilled experts to support the ailing power utility. Eskom CEO Dan Marokane assumed office on Friday. Eskom has been without a CEO since February last year, after the early departure of André de Ruyter.

The construction phase of the raising of Kempsdale dam wall and construction of a pump station is now under way. Inaugurated by Water and Sanitation Minister Senzo Mchunu on March 8, the project, as part of the Greater Kokstad Water Supply Scheme, aims to ensure a sustainable and reliable water supply for Kokstad and its surrounding areas, namely Bhongweni and Shayamoya.