Names convey meaning
If you plan to start a business, I suggest that it is a good idea to choose an appropriate name, with the emphasis on ‘appropriate’. For example, if you call your enterprise ‘Tasty Foods’ then best would be to provide food and make it tasty. If you call your enterprise ‘Technews’ then best you provide news and make it technical.
So why, I ask, would you establish a business with a name like ‘Speed Services’ and take days to deliver an envelope-sized package counter-to-counter between Durban and Bryanston? And why offer tracking on a website that is non-functional? No explanation, no apology, no customer ethic.
Fortunate investment
At the end of September I took a short break and drove down to the Drakensburg. It was only when I was relaxing there with a glass of wine that I thought back on my journey.
Leaving Johannesburg’s northern suburbs I was faced with the now-to-be expected traffic disruptions on the N13 between Bryanston and Alberton. What seems like a nuisance now is actually part of an R11,5-billion 125,5 kilometre highway upgrade for Gauteng.
At the Linbro Park off ramp from the N13 I had to slow down because road workers were in the process of removing the chicane which had been part of the crossing construction required for Gautrain. In his March 2009 presentation, Gautrain project manager, Jack van der Merwe, reported that this R25,2 billion project “has created or sustained more than 9940 local direct jobs and 52 900 direct, indirect and induced jobs.”
Between Alberton and Heidelberg I saw a significant new water pipeline being installed. I think this is part of Rand Water’s Zuikerbosch to Palmiet pipeline augmentation project at just under R1 billion.
A few kilometres before I passed Grootfontein I saw huge power pylons being erected for a new Eskom grid line. These quite literally tower over the existing nearby pylons. I later learned that this is part of the new 765 kV ‘Super Grid’ that is being installed at an investment somewhere north of R6 billion.
As I drove along the toll road after crossing the Vaal River I was interested to see kilometre after kilometre of trenching on the right-hand side of the road but within the South African National Roads Agency (SANRAL) road reserve. This stretched from before Villiers to past Warden. Every now and then there were huge rolls of brightly coloured tubing. On the way back from the ‘Berg I stopped at one of these excavations to take some photographs and saw that there were eight of these tubes laid in the trench. I had not been stopped for more than three minutes when two construction vehicles with flashing lights stopped and a burly driver stepped out of each. Trouble? What was I doing here?
When I explained my interest the two, who were from MTN and Neotel, explained that the tubes are for the installation of a fibre trunk linking South Africa’s major cities. This is a joint venture between MTN, Neotel, SANRAL and Vodacom, with each partner having two tubes for the installation of fibre-optic conductors. Each reel of tubing is 1 km long and there will be a manhole every 970 m which will become an access point for connection of cellphone masts, components of a Smart Roads system (toll systems, highway information systems, highway communication systems) and similar. This fibre-optic network represents a multibillion Rand investment that will ultimately provide some 5000 km of fibre backbone.
South Africa has probably been, perhaps unwittingly, spared some of the pain of the present recession as a result of these long-term infrastructural developments, many of which I hope will be functional before the 2010 FIFA World Cup.
Christmas and holiday greetings
To all our readers and advertisers, thank you for your support this year. I wish you happy holidays and a safe return if you are travelling. To fellow Christians, I wish you a blessed Christmas.
Andrew Ashton, editor:
Motion Control
| Tel: | +27 11 543 5800 |
| Email: | [email protected] |
| www: | www.technews.co.za |
| Articles: | More information and articles about Technews Publishing |
© Technews Publishing (Pty) Ltd | All Rights Reserved
printer friendly version