WEDESDAY, 11.30AM
The department of transport on Tuesday announced the opening of tenders for the construction of the R1,2-billion N3 toll road between Heidelberg in Gauteng and Cedara in KwaZulu-Natal.
Also announced were a concession contract on the R1-billion Platinum Road project to link Walvis Bay in Namibia with Maputo in Mozambique via the Trans-Kalahari highway, and a Wild Coast development initiative involving a 110km toll road between Port Edward and Port St Johns.
Transport Minister Mac Maharaj said the projects will create 40 000 jobs. He added that SA needs to spend R170-billion on roads over the next decade, but only R70-billion will be available through government budgets, with the remainder having to be generated through public/private sector partnerships and private sector funding.
BUSINESS BRIEFS
LOA ‘BACKS DOWN’ IN LIBERTY DISPUTE The dispute between the Life Offices’ Association and Liberty Life over commission structures has been settled in a manner being interpreted as a climbdown by the LOA. The LOA said on Tuesday Liberty had been cautioned for not following LOA procedures in paying brokers for administrative work, but agreed to review its code of conduct “in the context of a changing environment surrounding commission regulation.”
AMPLATS PEACE DEAL AMPLATS, the National Union of Mineworkers, the Mouthpiece Workers’ Union, the department of labour, and all other unions at Amplats mines near Rustenburg, on Tuesday signed a “declaration of intent” committing themselves to “elimination of all indentified acts of violence, the maintenance of peace and co-operation with law enforcement bodies”. They also comnmitted themsleves to basic worker rights, including the right to non-intimidation.