SELECT a_id, a_id_word, a_headline, a_publish_date, a_abstract, a_author, a_has_video, a_has_audio FROM su_cat_sg_mappings, re_categories , re_category_sections_assoc , pr_sections , pr_article_section_assoc , pr_articles_search, pr_article_media_assoc WHERE csg_sg_id = 1 AND csg_cat_id = cat_id AND a_status = 1
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Construction 2024/25: Adapting to new realities
Published: 20 Dec 24
Creamer Media's ‘Construction 2024/25: Adapting to new realities’ report explores key aspects of the South African construction sector, offering a comprehensive overview of its challenges and opportunities.
The report examines the sector's prolonged decline, driven by reduced demand for office and retail developments, currency depreciation, unsustainable price wars, and delayed or nonpayment by public-sector clients.
Broader issues, such as high lending rates, municipal dysfunction, and the rise of the construction mafia, have compounded these difficulties, forcing many companies, particularly smaller contractors, to scale back operations or exit the market. Additionally, flawed procurement practices, narrow profit margins, and substandard project execution continue to hinder progress, despite the sector's crucial role in South Africa’s economic recovery.
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Water 2024/5: Averting a crisis
Published: 13 Dec 24
Creamer Media’s ‘Water 2024/25: Averting a crisis’ report delves into the critical state of South Africa's water sector, challenged by ageing infrastructure, municipal debt, and declining water quality, as reflected in the latest Blue and Green Drop reports. It explores key developments, such as the establishment of the National Water Resources Infrastructure Agency and amendments to water legislation, while addressing the growing impacts of climate change, population growth, and poor maintenance on the country’s water systems.
The report also examines ongoing efforts to address these challenges, including water infrastructure projects, such as the Lesotho Highlands Water Project, as well as maintenance programmes, and innovations such as biological solutions for invasive plants.
Also discussed are the roles of public–private partnerships and regulatory advancements in driving improved water efficiency, governance, and resource management.
Looking ahead, the report emphasises the need for urgent collaboration among stakeholders to secure South Africa's water future. It notes the need for increased investment, structural reforms, and decisive action to ensure equitable access to water and sanitation services to prevent a crisis on the scale of that in the country’s electricity sector.
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Electricity 2024/25: Tariffs, renewables and transmission challenges
Published: 11 Dec 24
South Africa’s energy crisis hit a peak in 2023, with record loadshedding affecting homes, businesses, and the economy.
Creamer Media’s ‘Electricity 2024/25: Tariffs, renewables and transmission challenges’ report explores the power outage challenges, including State-owned power utility Eskom’s struggles with aging coal-fired power plants, corruption, and electricity theft. It also looks at the broad-based approach by government to turn things around.
From new renewable-energy projects to reducing debt, including perhaps most pressingly clawing back debt owed by municipal customers, this report highlights what is being done to secure South Africa’s energy future and the challenges that remain.
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Projects in Progress 2024 (Second Edition)
Published: 25 Oct 24
Creamer Media’s ‘Projects in Progress 2024’ report provides a comprehensive overview of developments in South Africa’s economy, as reflected through some of the major infrastructure projects under way across key sectors such as electricity, transportation, water and mining.
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Telecommunications 2024: SA's telecoms landscape expanding and evolving
Published: 28 Sep 24
South Africa’s telecommunications landscape continues to expand and evolve rapidly, forming a critical part of the economy and connecting an increasingly diverse population and businesses. As the country adapts to a growing demand for connectivity, mobile and fixed-line broadband services are expanding at an unprecedented rate. Commercial 5G networks have been launched, and fibre networks are extending to more homes, businesses, and rural areas, driving digital inclusion and enhancing access to essential services like education, finance, and healthcare. Despite challenges such as power disruptions, vandalism, and infrastructure theft, the sector remains resilient and continues to see significant investments, especially in next-generation technologies.
Creamer Media’s ‘Telecommunications 2024: SA's telecoms landscape expanding and evolving’ report examines South Africa’s telecommunications sector in respect of its connectivity profile, the trends in the sector, the challenges it faces, policy and regulatory developments, as well as the companies that are driving the sector forward.
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Projects in Progress 2024 (First Edition)
Published: 31 Jul 24
Creamer Media's Projects in Progress 2024 report presents a comprehensive overview of the upcoming and ongoing infrastructure projects in South Africa, highlighting key developments in sectors such as electricity, mining, and transportation. Notable projects include the Gas Independent Power Producer Procurement Programme, designed to secure 3 000 MW of new-generation capacity through land-based gas-fired power facilities, and the Renewable Energy Independent Power Producer Procurement Programme, which aims to procure 2 583 MW from various wind and solar projects. Additionally, significant investments are being made in the mining sector, with Menar's coal and anthracite projects set to boost coal production to 20-million tons a year by 2025.
The report also covers major transportation infrastructure projects, such as the N2 Wild Coast Toll Road megabridge projects. The Mtentu bridge, part of this project, will become one of the world's longest main-span-balanced cantilever bridges and the highest bridge in Africa, with a 260 m main span and a height of more than 220 m above the river valley.
These projects, among others detailed in the report, reflect substantial capital investments aimed at bolstering South Africa's infrastructure and energy sectors.
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Coal 2024: Logistics logjam
Published: 18 Jul 24
Global coal production reached 8.74-million tonnes in 2023, marking an all-time high. This despite growing rhetoric and a drive to phase out the use of fossil fuels for power generation globally. New retirement plans and coal phaseout commitments continued to be published in 2023; however, less coal capacity was retired in the year than any other single year in more than a decade.
To meet the 2015 Paris Agreement goal of limiting global warming to 1.5 ˚C above preindustrial levels and reducing emissions, coal-fired power generation will need to be significantly lowered.
In South Africa, State-owned power utility Eskom indicated in its latest Medium-Term System Adequacy Outlook, published in November 2023, that no coal-fired power plants would be shut down in the next five years, a departure from its prior plans to decommission 6 000 MW of coal capacity by the end of 2028.
This decision is the result of a delay in progressing the construction of renewables projects in the country in recent years, which most tellingly bears out in the International Energy Agency’s observation that while advances in solar and wind power generation have made these technologies cheaper than coal-fired power in most parts of the world, coal mining will still be necessary to support the energy transition over many decades to come.
Creamer Media’s ‘Coal 2024: Logistics logjam’ report considers coal’s current status globally, the trade thereof and the role it plays in world power demand. It looks at the main and smaller participants in South Africa’s coal sector, as well as the logistics challenges that the sector is facing in getting its coal to port.
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Just Energy Transition 2024: Investing in the future
Published: 10 May 24
Amid the global transition from fossil fuels to renewable sources, Creamer Media’s ‘Just Energy Transition 2024: Investing in the future’ report underscores the urgent need for this shift to be fair and equitable, ensuring all stakeholders share in both costs and benefits. South Africa's heavy reliance on coal necessitates a commitment to lower emissions driven not only by international obligations but also by domestic concerns, including the looming threat of severe temperature increases. However, achieving this transition presents significant challenges.
The report contextualises the Just Energy Transition in the context of South Africa's persistent electricity supply deficit, which has led to severe loadshedding in recent years, potentially impeding the move away from coal-fired electricity. Despite the government’s draft Integrated Resource Plan 2023 indicating a rapid increase in renewable energy deployment through public and private procurement, coal will continue to play a significant role in electricity generation.
Delving into the intricacies of South Africa's electricity sector, the report highlights the pivotal role of independent power producers, renewable-energy programmes, and the necessity for restructuring and legislative changes. Additionally, it examines how the energy transition intersects with other sectors such as mobility and mining, emphasising the importance of employment and skills development in facilitating a just transition. The report offers valuable insights into the challenges, opportunities and potential benefits associated with a just energy transition.
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