Minister of Finance Pravin Gordhan has said that the
fiscus can't sustain the uncertainties around e-tolls. Well, a great many motorists and companies are also uncertain of what impact e-tolling is going to have on their monthly costs. After much to-ing and fro-ing, the monthly bill was capped at R550 per month for light vehicles, but in this report, Gordhan is reported as saying "statistics derived from the gantries on the highway showed that people would not be paying more‚ on average‚ than R150 or R100 a month. He said inflated numbers were being put out to the public." Clear as mud?
These tolls are going to impact on every one of us, everywhere in the country, because every company based in Gauteng, having operations in or through Gauteng or dealing with any such company, will face increased costs. And guess who will have to pay...
On the mobile front, Lax Faure discusses
the technology tsunami... No other development in the history of the world has caused so much change, in such a short time period, he writes.
Food-crop improvement by conventional plant breeding, without resorting to GMO (Genetically Modified Organism) technology, is the goal of the African Centre for Crop Improvement (ACCI) and its work has borne fruit and
African farmers can now select seeds for their needs.
Thinking of travelling to the US? Think again...
Travel chaos is looming as the US cancels flights thanks to Cyclone Sandy. Air France, British Airways, Virgin and other European airlines cancelled all flights into New York, Baltimore, Washington, Boston and Philadelphia on Monday, while US airlines called off thousands of domestic flights and diverted planes away from Sandy's path. There is likely to be a knock-on effect, so check with your travel agent or airline if you're due to travel to the US.
Rod Baker, content director
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WSP Green by Design recently launched Future Cities in South Africa, a service that provides quantified analysis of urban design and infrastructure in sustainability terms, and the delivery of urban solutions for a sustainable future in the natural and built environment, at a cocktail evening in Melrose Arch, Joburg. 
The construction sector in South Africa continues to face the dual effect of a slowdown in available infrastructure projects and the impact of rising costs. With Standard and Poor's (S&P) downgrade on South Africa's sovereign credit rating, the outlook has deteriorated further, potentially impacting on governments 2020 infrastructure roll-out plan. 
According to The New Age Online, the government's massive infrastructure programme is on course with some of the projects already underway, with government saying it will spend R4 trillion in infrastructure rollout over the next 20 years with most of the projects driven by state-owned entities. Finance Minister Pravin Gordhan said during the medium term budget policy statement, that infrastructure spending was on track. 
