Kenya plans to begin construction in 2025 of a $13.8-billion high-speed electric railway from its Indian Ocean port of Lamu to Ethiopia and South Sudan. The 3 000 km standard-gauge railway will link the new port to the central Kenyan town of Isiolo, and branch into three to Addis Ababa, Juba and Nairobi, according to [...]

A southern African bloc of nations backed a $17-billion natural gas infrastructure plan to bolster energy supplies on a continent where almost half of the population lacks access to power. The 16-member Southern African Development Community approved the blueprint to invest in infrastructure such as pipelines and terminals for local and imported supplies. While not [...]

Infrastructure projects in South Africa have received a significant boost through a debut R1.5-billion debt issuance in the domestic market. The New Development Bank’s (NDB’s) bond issuance in South Africa is a landmark transaction for NDB, and local bank Absa Corporate and Investment Banking (CIB)  is pleased to participate in a transaction that will enable [...]

South Africa's Treasury has paid R16-billion to heavily indebted power utility Eskom, the first tranche of a debt relief package that will wipe off more than half its liabilities, acting CEO Calib Cassim said on Tuesday. The Treasury offered a total of R254-billion to the State-owned company in February so it can pay its debts to [...]

Thermal coal mining company Thungela will next month open a nursery to support the planting of a million trees and has already commissioned a hatchery to breed fish for reintroduction into the river ecosystem where aquatic life was wiped out earlier this year. The community-owned tree nursery will open in two weeks and the hatchery [...]

Chinese President Xi Jinping says China stands ready to import more quality products from South Africa, while also encouraging Chinese enterprises to invest in the country, which he described as a “strategic” bilateral and multilateral partner. China is South Africa’s single biggest trading partner and South Africa is China’s largest African trading partner, with bilateral [...]

International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) director-general Rafael Mariano Grossi on Tuesday gave the assurance that the agency would provide a continuing, objective, independent and impartial safety review during the discharging of treated water, currently stored at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant (NPP), into the sea. He assurance followed the announcement, also on Tuesday, by [...]

South Africa’s Industrial Development Corporation (IDC) and the Bank of China (BoC) have signed a framework agreement that could unlock a R10-billion funding package over the next five years to support regional projects in energy, infrastructure, manufacturing, agriculture, and mining. Signed ahead of the Brics summit in Johannesburg, BoC CEO Dr Longjian Chen said the [...]

Three bridges built by the South African National Roads Agency Limited (Sanral) for a total of R104-million are expected to enable communities around Vaalwater, in Limpopo, to travel shorter distances to go to school and visit families, while local businesses will now be able to save on fuel when moving goods. Taxi and bus commuters [...]

The New Development Bank (NDB) – an initiative of the Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa bloc – and South Africa's Trans-Caledon Tunnel Authority (TCTA) have signed a R3.2-billion loan agreement for the implementation of Phase 2 of the Lesotho Highlands Water Project (LHWP). The NDB will provide the project loan to the TCTA under the [...]

Business Leadership South Africa (BLSA) CEO Busi Mavuso has expressed her dismay over the delays to the Electricity Regulation Act (ERA) Amendment Bill that became apparent last week, which she says leaves considerable risks that the Bill will not be promulgated before the end of the year. She explains that, owing to apparent administrative bungling, [...]

Electricity Minister Dr Kgosientsho Ramokgopa has acknowledged that South African cities and towns face the real prospect of ongoing power interruptions even if the balance between supply and demand is restored, owing to significant investment backlogs in the distribution sector. Quoting from research conducted when he was overseeing Infrastructure South Africa, Ramokgopa estimated the backlog [...]