Irma Venter
Irma Venter is a Creamer Media Senior Deputy Editor for Engineering News and Mining Weekly.
PRASA restores five more rail corridors partially
4th April 2024 The Passenger Rail Agency of South Africa (PRASA) says it has restored another five Metrorail corridors across Gauteng, KwaZulu-Natal and the... →
Govt turns to private sector to fix public sector facilities
19th March 2024 Given the current economic downturn, government does not have the resources to look after all of its assets, says Department of Public Works and... →
New online portal launched to aid Cape Town’s solar PV boom
13th March 2024 The City of Cape Town has launched a new online application portal for solar photovoltaic (PV) installations. More than 5 000 solar PV systems have... →
Global unrest fuelling shipping costs, consumers to feel it within a year – Unctad
23rd February 2024 The United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (Unctad) estimates that transits passing through the Suez Canal have decreased by 42%... →
Fuel price hike will impact consumers and the road freight industry – RFA
16th February 2024 Fuel is rapidly crossing the 50% mark as a share of daily road transport operating costs, depending on the type of transport operation, with rising... →
Cape Town to invest R43bn in infrastructure in the next three years – mayor
14th February 2024 Cape Town Mayor Geordin Hill-Lewis says the city will invest R43-billion in infrastructure over the next three years. The ten-year project pipeline... →
Households can now apply to sell their excess solar power to the City of Cape Town
12th February 2024 The City of Cape Town is now enabling households to earn cash for the power generated from their solar photovoltaic generation systems. Mayor... →
Study shows SA has the most lenient road rules out of 17 countries
17th January 2024 South Africa has been ranked as the country with the most lenient road rules in a new study that compares 17 nations across the globe. This study... →
Sanral to issue 70 tenders in ‘the next couple of weeks’
12th January 2024 The South African National Roads Agency Limited (Sanral) says it will issue at least 70 tenders “in the next couple of weeks”. In terms of the... →
Cape Town calls for deadline on private sector port involvement
12th January 2024 The City of Cape Town says it wants a “clear deadline” from Transnet and national government on private sector involvement in the Port of Cape... →
Richards Bay Port says it ‘may’ halt trucks carrying cargo to the port; RFA outraged
17th November 2023 Richards Bay Transnet Port Terminals (RCB TPT) says it “may” suspend the processing of trucks bringing cargo into its terminals by road. Only... →
Cape Town to roll out a number of technologies to combat crime
28th July 2023 The City of Cape Town will this year introduce a number of new technologies to combat crime. Some of these technologies may be familiar, such as... →
Only approved inverters to be accepted from October, warns City of Cape Town
25th July 2023 The City of Cape Town has announced that all solar photovoltaic (PV) and/or battery systems connected to the wiring of a building must be... →
Cape Town secures €100-million in infrastructure finance
21st June 2023 The City of Cape Town has secured €100-million in developmental finance, with Cape Town Mayor Geordin Hill-Lewis signing the loan agreement with... →
Mantashe affirms commitment to coal as Greenpeace disrupts his Indaba speech
7th March 2023 Greenpeace Africa on Tuesday disrupted Minister of Mineral Resources and Energy Gwede Mantashe’s opening speech at the Africa Energy Indaba in Cape... →
Public sector capacity building vital in countering chronic underspending
27th February 2023 The Department of Public Works and Infrastructure (DPWI) has, through its entity the Construction Industry Development Board (CIDB), prioritised... →
Why is e-tolls debt so high, asks Outa
25th November 2022 The Organisation Undoing Tax Abuse (Outa) says it would like to know how the Gauteng Freeway Improvement Project (GFIP) debt escalated to the... →
Calls for petrol price deregulation display lack of knowledge – FRA
17th June 2022 Increasing calls from the public for the petrol price to be deregulated speak of ignorance, warns Fuel Retailers Association (FRA) CEO Reggie... →
Court declares AARTO Amendment Act unconstitutional
13th January 2022 The High Court has declared the Administrative Adjudication of Road Traffic Offences (AARTO) Amendment Act, on which the planned demerit system for... →
SAVE-P signs contract for 2 000 ventilators, looks to assist India, rest of Africa
30th July 2020 The Solidarity Fund has concluded a contract with the South African Emergency Ventilator Project (SAVE-P) to produce 2 000 new ventilators that... →
Govt set to lose up to R7bn in April on fuel levies, says AA
29th April 2020 With the significant drop in fuel use seen during April’s lockdown, government’s revenue from the general fuel levy (GFL), which comprises about... →
UJ creates cheap, open-source ventilator as Covid-19 spreads
28th April 2020 A multidisciplinary team of engineers and healthcare practitioners at the University of Johannesburg (UJ) has used open-source designs to develop a... →
Locally made face-mask marketplace goes live
24th April 2020 A dedicated face mask marketplace went live on the Proudly South African website on Friday, April 24. The initiative is designed to assist South... →
Local ventilator production could start within a month, says Naacam
3rd April 2020 Much of the reverse engineering on the Penlon Nuffield 200 ventilator is complete, with prototype production imminent, says National Association of... →
Covid-19 impact will be “massive”, says S&P Global Ratings
25th March 2020 It has become clear that the hit to global economic activity from the measures to slow the spread of the Covid-19 pandemic will be massive, says... →
Constitutional amendment only unlikely to deliver success, warns land panel
20th February 2020 South Africa had to put in place a 50- to 100-year food security plan, and then walk backwards to see what it can do to make that happen, says... →
Gautrain tenders for acquisition, refurbishment of pre-owned trains open
30th January 2020 Gautrain concessionaire Bombela has issued two tenders related to the procurement of between five and seven pre-owned trains from the UK, for use... →
New Gautrain boss to plan for capacity increase, end of concession
30th January 2020 Newly appointed Gautrain Management Agency CEO William Dachs’s first goal is ensure the Gautrain rail system remains an “excellent, safe and... →
Dachs takes over as Gautrain boss as Van der Merwe retires
29th January 2020 Jack van der Merwe, who led the planning and rollout of the Gautrain rapid rail project for two decades, will retire as Gautrain Management Agency... →
R3.5bn Tshwane SEZ to support proposed doubling of production at Ford plant
5th November 2019 President Cyril Ramaphosa has officially kickstarted construction of the Tshwane Automotive Special Economic Zone (SEZ). The R3.5-billion... →
Public transport subsidy policy to go to Cabinet at end of 2020
5th August 2019 Future of Transport (FOT) Consulting expects the new policy on South Africa’s public transport subsidy regime to be finalised and presented to... →
Fixing Eskom will result in higher taxes, electricity prices – economist
17th July 2019 There is little doubt that the taxpayer will be left footing the bill for the problems experienced at power supplier Eskom, and probably so through... →
Gautrain adds R6.4bn to the Gauteng economy a year, says new study
15th July 2019 A new study on the socio-economic impact of the Gautrain indicates that the rapid-rail system adds R6.64-billion to Gauteng economy’s gross... →
Busmark, HySA and partners to roll out first homegrown hydrogen fuel cell bus
11th July 2019 The first South African developed hydrogen fuel cell bus is set to find a home with a local bus fleet, as soon as trial testing has been completed.... →
Task team to look at future of e-tolling, completion date set for August
8th July 2019 A governmental task team will produce a report on the future of electronic tolling in Gauteng by August. Speaking at a media conference at the... →
Govt to spend R38bn on Metrorail, Mbalula to seek 'proper policing' on trains
19th June 2019 The South African government will spend about R38-billion over the next three years on the procurement of new trains for the Metrorail service, as... →
Electric cargo bike pilot study to kick off in Sharpeville in November
26th October 2018 Two electric cargo bikes (e-bikes) will start operations, in Sharpeville, Gauteng, at the end of November. The pilot project, a partnership between... →
Sanral’s strategy, transformation policy ready for Cabinet approval
22nd October 2018 The South African National Roads Agency Limited’s (Sanral’s) Horizon 2030 strategy is “ready to go to Cabinet”, in a process that will be managed... →
Public not properly consulted on e-tolls, says toll collection firm
10th July 2018 The public was not properly consulted in the process to implement e-tolling in Gauteng, says Electronic Toll Collection (ETC) CEO Coenie Vermaak.... →
You can’t have your cake and eat it, Sanral’s Macozoma warns govt, South Africans
9th July 2018 South Africa is in critical need of a funding model for its road infrastructure. “The situation with toll in this country now is that, number one,... →
Gauteng aims for integrated public transport ticketing in 2020
20th June 2018 Gauteng commuters should, in 2020, be able to use one card/ticket for all their public transport journeys, across all modes, such as rail and bus.... →