Coega smelter outlook not too bright

WITH THE government having slapped a ban on Eskom powering up major new projects, the future for the proposed R24-billion aluminium smelter at the new Port of Ngqura – just south of Port Elizabeth – is under threat. Newspaper reports suggested that this three- to four-year delay in powering the project made the chances of the smelter ever materialising even more remote Investor Rio Tinto – which signed up the deal in 2006 – could easily change its mind in that time about SA being the chosen investment destination.