Wednesday, May fourteen, 2008.

From Creamer Media in Johannesburg, I'm Shannon O'Donnell.

Making headlines today:

Construction contractors could soon have to complete mandatory close-out reports for projects, which would give an advantage to those companies that perform better, and help them to understand where they could improve, statutory body, the Construction Industry Development Board, or CIDB, said on Tuesday.

Industry performance manager Rodney Milford said that the organisation was looking to pilot the project within the next six months.

The reports would assess the performance of contractors, with the goal of having clients target contractors that performed satisfactorily.

Milford stressed that the close-out reports were not meant as a penalty to contractors that did not perform, but were for the benefit of contractors.

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National carrier South African Airways, or SAA, believes a platform has now been created for growth, and has issued a request for information, or RFI, to Airbus and Boeing for a network-driven fleet plan up until 2020.

SAA could seek to initiate a competitive bidding process between Boeing and Airbus later this year, both of which are viewed as considerably more energy efficient than the current operational fleet.

A formal request for proposals would be compiled on information garnered from the RFI, which should be submitted later this month, and only then would SAA outline the number of aircraft sought, as well as purchase and funding scenarios, which was likely to involve a mix of out right aircraft purchases and leasing arrangements.

SAA business development head Jason Krause:
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CEO designate of Angloplat, Neville Nicolau, said on the day of the announcement of his appointment that "safety was the mine's moral licence to operate".

Safety had perhaps become the foremost issue at the platinum giant, and has been a major contributor to it missing its production forecasts.

Nicolau said that safety was something that needed to be driven from the top, and that he would display visible, felt leadership in this regard.

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Also making headlines:

ArcelorMittal profit rises to 2-billion rand and sees more growth
Inflation expectations deteriorating says the South African Reserve Bank
Sasol expects earnings to surge, but lowers 2008 fuel output forecast
South Africa's March gold output falls 10,9%
Keaton subsidiary to spend 3-million rand on newly acquired prospecting rights
And, Pallinghurst and Gemfields say reverse takeover is making progress

In political news:

Rights group concerned at mass arrests in Khartoum
Harare suspends imports duties on cooking oil and flour
ANC Youth League calls on police to act harshly on xenophobic attacks
And, Alexandra attacks not just acts of xenophobia says Firoz Cachalia

That's a round up of news making headlines today. For more on these and other stories, visit engineeringnews.co.za, miningweekly.com and polity.org.za