Tuesday, June seventeen, 2008.

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

Making headlines today:

South Africa's central bank governor Tito Mboweni said a six percent rise in electricity tariffs would be reasonable and anything above that would stoke inflation.

The National Energy Regulator of South Africa is considering a proposal by state-run power utility Eskom to sharply raise electricity tariffs to fund a 350-billion rand expansion.

South Africa is facing an electricity shortage and needs new power plants to come on line to boost supply.

It is expected that the contracts for the upgrading and widening of the R21 highway between OR Tambo International Airport and Tswhane will be awarded in August, with construction work on the project to be completed in 2010.

The project forms part of the multibillion-rand 561-kilometre Gauteng Freeway Improvement project, which aims to upgrade and expand the province's highway network, "in order to allow sustainable growth in Gauteng".

Work has already started on the project, with contracts to the value of 9,3-billion rand awarded in May.

Diversified-miner Rio Tinto will invest 371-million dollars to automate its iron-ore railways in the Pilbara region of Western Australia, the group, which is defending itself against an unsolicited offer from rival BHP Billiton, said on Monday.

Within five years, driverless trains would be operating on most of the 1 300 kilometres of track that serves the Pilbara operations, which would help the company to lift annual iron ore production to 320-million tons in 2012.

The initiative would be the first time that automation had been used in a heavy haul railway of this scale, though the technology operated successfully on several metropolitan passenger railways worldwide, Rio Tinto said.

Also making headlines:

Investors ask if Trevor Manuel will stay
Africa could triple food output quickly says the UN
Work is under way to bring PBMR's waste footprint in line with industry's waste-to-energy norms
Zimbabwe threatens to seize and redistribute unexploited mining claims
Zinc surplus widens reports study group
And, Rio Tinto says Guinea iron ore project still on track

In political news:

Rich nations fall short on Africa aid says watchdog
The ANC Youth League is prepared to die for Zuma says Julius Malema
Robert Mugabe threatens to arrest MDC leader for violence
And, youth must stand up against xenophobia, says Thabo Mbeki

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