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March 5 (Bloomberg) -- Eskom Holdings Ltd., South Africa's national
power utility, won't approve some construction projects for four to
six months as it assesses an electricity shortage that shut most of
the country's mines for five days in January.
``Factory size'' projects requiring more than 100 kilovolt- amperes
won't be approved in the period, Andrew Etzinger, a spokesman for state-owned
Eskom, said in an interview from Johannesburg today. Prior commitments
will be honored, he said.
The country may be short of electricity until 2012 because of inadequate
investment in power plants. The government delayed granting Eskom permission
to expand for four years. Miners and other major industrial users have
been restricted to 90 percent of normal power use since the mine closures.
Eskom will consider whether to supply power to developments on a ``case-by-case''
basis, Chief Operating Officer Brian Dames told reporters in Cape Town
today. ``We can't sell something we don't have,'' Dames said.
Growthpoint Ltd., South Africa's largest real-estate investment company,
has been told by Eskom that approval for power supplies for a property
development in Johannesburg's Sandton area will be delayed by three
to six months, Chief Executive Officer Norbert Sasse told the Johannesburg-based
CNBC Africa television channel in an interview today. He didn't immediately
return a call made to his mobile phone.
Mine Expansions
Beeld, a Johannesburg-based newspaper, today cited Eskom spokesman
Tony Stott as saying the utility will block new construction projects
bigger than houses over the next four to six months.
Eskom Chairman Valli Moosa and Finance Director Bongani Nqwababa, both
members of Eskom's board, denied knowledge of such a ban in interviews
in Cape Town today.
While Etzinger said he couldn't say which projects are affected, he
also said it the ban will apply to mine expansions.
Eskom will know by the end of the week whether it's able to increase
power supply to mines, Dames said.
``We have seen an improvement in Eskom's plant performance over the
past few weeks'' and industrial customers had made an effort to help
implement planned savings of 3,000 megawatts, he said.
``We have not seen a similar response from our retail customers, our
municipalities, our commercial customers, our hotels, our banks,'' Dames
said. ``The country has got no choice'' but to reduce power demand,
he added.
Trevor Raymond, a spokesman for Anglo Platinum Ltd., the world's largest
platinum producer, declined to immediately comment.
South Africa's construction industry grew at an annualized rate of
14.2 percent in the fourth quarter, underpinning the 5.3 percent annualized
expansion rate of the whole economy.
To contact the reporter on this story: Mike Cohen in Cape Town at mcohen21@bloomberg.net;
Antony Sguazzin in Johannesburg at asguazzin@bloomberg.net
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