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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 28 2012 07:53
The City of Cape Town has spent R175m running the Myciti bus service since the Soccer World Cup compared to an income of R35m, a report says.
May 27 2012 13:09
The oversupply of golf estates has claimed another victim.
Cape Town - South Africa expects to sign long-term supply contracts for its coal-fired power stations, including two new 4 800 MW plants, by the end of next year, Public Enterprises Minister Barbara Hogan said on Monday.
State power utility Eskom has commissioned the new Medupi and Kusile power stations as part of a R385bn expansion programme, to help meet rising demand in Africa's largest economy battling with power shortages.
"It is expected that the long-term contracts for the current fleet of coal fired power stations, including Kusile and Medupi, will be finalised by the end of 2010," Hogan said in a written reply to parliament questions.
"Medium-term contracts, 5 to 10 years, are used to fill in the gaps," she said.
Hogan said out of about 200 "sources of coal" less than ten offered more than the billion tonnes coal requested by Eskom, which expected to invest up to R110bn in coal mining by 2020 and dig at least 40 new mines in that time to meet growing demand.
South Africa, one of the world's top coal exporters, relies on coal for 90% of its power, making it Africa's worst polluter.
- Reuters