IATA welcomes outcomes of International Civil Aviation Assembly . The global airline industry representative body, the International Air Transport Association (IATA), is pleased with the outcomes of last week’s 40th Triennial Assembly of the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO – the inter-Governmental body which oversees civil aviation worldwide, in terms of codifying and coordinating the procedures and principles of international air travel; it is a specialised agency of the United Nations). All of IATA’s main concerns were addressed by the Assembly.

IATA’s concerns were – the need to support the aviation industry’s efforts to reduce its effect on climate change; to safely integrate unmanned aircraft systems (UAS), popularly called drones, into civilian airspace management; to ensure that passengers with disabilities experienced a global, consistent, approach when travelling by air; to put in place an international legal framework to deal with unruly passengers; to establish passenger identification measures that were convenient and modern; and, to make global navigation satellite systems (GNSS) less vulnerable to damaging interference. Of these, it was climate change that was at the top of the agenda.

The Assembly agreed that the ICAO Council would, at the next Assembly, report on alternatives for setting a long-term aspiration for cutting carbon emissions from global aviation. This is the first time that the world’s countries have agreed to look at a long-term objective of cutting aviation emissions. The industry itself – IATA, its members, other aviation industry participants (particularly aircraft and aero-engine manufacturers) adopted such an objective ten years ago. The industry objective is to cut aviation emissions to half their 2005 levels by 2050. “[W]e are making consistent progress,” affirmed IATA Director General and CEO Alexandre de Juniac. “Flying today is 17.3% more fuel efficient than a decade ago.”

Tongaat again delays publication of full-year results . Sugar producer Tongaat Hulett will not publish its results for the 2019 financial year on October 31 as previously planned. The company in May announced that there would be a delay in publishing the results for the financial year ended March 31 and that it would have to restate its results for the 2018 financial year, as a strategic and financial review had revealed past practices that were of concern.

Electricity generation master plan to be tabled before Cabinet next week, Mantashe says . Mineral and Energy Resources Minister Gwede Mantashe says that the latest iteration of the state's long-term plan for electricity generation will be tabled before Cabinet next week. If approved by Cabinet, it will be gazetted soon after. The Integrated Resource Plan (IRP) describes the state's plan for future energy generation, including projected electricity demand, cost estimates, and from what sources power will be generated. It will outline the state's thinking on the decommissioning of coal power stations, the role of nuclear power, and the growth of renewable energy. It is expected to be based, largely, on a draft plan published for comment in 2018.

Johannesburg residents urged to save water as Vaal Dam level drops to just above 50% . Johannesburg residents have been urged to try to save water after the level of the Vaal Dam dropped to 53.1%. In addition, no water transfers to the dam will be possible until November 30, owing to maintenance.

Group Five’s interim CEO resigns . Embattled construction company Group Five has announced that Dr Thabo Clifford Kogo has resigned as interim CEO, with effect from October 30, in order to pursue an alternative career opportunity. Kogo has served as interim CEO to the group since February, shortly before the company was placed into business rescue.

Exxon awards contract for Africa’s biggest-ever private project . Exxon Mobil awarded a JGC Corp-led group a contract to develop its Mozambique liquefied natural gas (LNG) project, which is set to be the biggest ever private investment in Africa. JGC will be joined by Fluor and TechnipFMC to develop the Rovuma LNG project, Exxon senior VP for LNG Peter Clarke said in a speech Tuesday in the Mozambican capital, Maputo. The project will cost between $27-billion and $33-billion, according to March estimates by Johannesburg-based Standard Bank Group.

Rustenburg taxi associations form transport company, bank . Six long distance taxi associations in Rustenburg in the North West have clubbed together to establish a transport company and a cooperative bank. The chief executive officer of the newly formed Rustenburg Long Distance Transport Holdings, Bennet Afrika, said the taxi industry had been characterised by lack of economic growth, lack of corporate identity, lack of formalisation, amongst other issues, due to the manner in which the industry was structured as a business and service provider.

Rustenburg taxi associtions form transport company, bank . Six long distance taxi associations in Rustenburg in the North West have clubbed together to establish a transport company and a cooperative bank. The chief executive officer of the newly formed Rustenburg Long Distance Transport Holdings, Bennet Afrika, said the taxi industry had been characterised by lack of economic growth, lack of corporate identity, lack of formalisation, amongst other issues, due to the manner in which the industry was structured as a business and service provider.

Safaricom's M-Pesa among top 10 most influential financial projects in last 50 years . Kenyan mobile network operator 's money transfer service M-Pesa has been recognised as one of the top ten most influential finance projects of the last 50 years by the Project Management Institute, the company said on Tuesday. The 12-year old mobile phone based service was among more than 1 000 projects considered by a group of 400 leaders in the global project management community.

Resgen to provide Ledjadja with additional $2.5m in working capital . ASX- and JSE-listed Resource Generation (Resgen) has received conditional approval from its lender, Noble Group, to provide additional working capital to its partly owned subsidiary, Ledjadja Coal, to cover the subsidiary’s projected financial needs through to February 28, 2020. Resgen will extend the facility agreement to Ledjadja by up to an additional $2.5-million and will move the first date for repayment out to February next year.