Related Articles
Top Stories
May 27 2012 11:21
There's a price war raging between South Africa's cellphone networks after Cell C lowered the rates of its prepaid calls by more than 34%.
May 27 2012 11:49
The country's 200 000-odd Tupperware agents are angry about the counterfeit products being sold as the real McCoy.
May 27 2012 13:09
The oversupply of golf estates has claimed another victim.
Johannesburg - The Coega Development Corporation
(CDC) on Friday said it has not yet received any official communication from
the Rio Tinto Group on its plans to scrap its planned R24bn
aluminium smelter at Coega.
In a statement issued on Thursday night, South Africa's Department of
Trade and Industry, Eskom, the Industrial Development Corporation (IDC) and
Rio Tinto said the supply of electricity to the Coega smelter project near
Port Elizabeth was insufficient to proceed.
CDC business development manager Kwezi Tiya confirmed that the CDC had
not had any discussions with Rio Tinto and until such stage has no comment.
Tiya said the CDC is proceeding nevertheless with the current projects,
worth R150bn.
These include a plan by PetroSA to build a $10bn crude oil
refinery and various other industrial projects.
But as Business day pointed out in a report on Friday, the 720 000 ton
smelter project would have provided a much-needed anchor tenant for Coega.
Other major projects also hang in the balance while South Africa faces
serious electricity supply constraints.
Rio Tinto's decision to pull out of the investment is a blow to the
South African government's aspirations to locate heavy industry in Coega.
Coega, which had been on the cards since 2001, has often been cited as a
catalyst for foreign direct investment.
"The cancellation also raises doubt on whether the power-intensive
project - proclaimed two years ago by the government as its largest single
greenfield investment - will get off the ground," said Business Day.
- I-Net Bridge