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Government plans to move ahead with speed on the exploration of shale gas reserves, President Jacob Zuma saying in his State of the Nation Address last night that “having evaluated the risks and opportunities the final regulations will be released soon”.
Zuma added that this would be “followed by the processing and grant-ing of licenses”. He said the development of shale gas “will be a game-changer for the Karoo region and for the South Afri-can economy”.
Zuma also indicated that the nuclear build programme was firmly back on the agenda saying that government expected “to conclude the procure-ment of nine thousand six hundred megawatts of nuclear energy”.
The revised version of the Integrat-ed Resource Plan indicated that be-cause of lower demand it would be possible to postpone a decision on whether to proceed with the nuclear build programme for a year and possibly longer Nuclear 1 is expected to be built at Thyspunt near Oyster Bay.
Zuma said he had engaged with business on specific steps that government could take “to make it easier to do business in our country.
“Arising out of that process, we have now streamlined regulatory and licensing approvals for environmental impact assessments, water licenses and mining licenses.”
The President also announced a programme to eradicate the bucket system saying that Phase 1 of the project would focus on formal town-ships in the Eastern Cape, Free State and Northern Cape.
