International companies in the construction sector have flocked to South Africa to forge business relations ahead of the 2010 Soccer World Cup

VETERAN deal maker Brian Gilbertson emerged at the weekend as a potential white knight to save the $2,2bn Coega aluminium smelter project.

Local and international interest is growing in the possibility of making South Africa the first African country to build a synchrotron, it emerged this week.

With coal reserves dwindling, nuclear power is an option for the future and government is considering more Koeberg-type plants

Analysts believe companies have been given impetus by the easing of exchange control regulations.

South Africa, along with Egypt, Nigeria, Morocco and Tunisia, accounted for 60 percent of all direct investment inflows into Africa from 1997 to 2001, a draft World Economic Forum (WEF) report had shown.