Mbeki approves astronomy bill

2008-06-25 20:15

Cape Town - South Africa is in a strong position to host the Square Kilometre Array (SKA) and the Southern Africa Large Telescope in the Northern Cape, following a new law that came into effect last week.

The bill will also place SA among the world's leading nations in the proactive protection of national and international science infrastructure investments.

President Thabo Mbeki signed the Astronomy Geographic Advantage Bill last week bringing it into law.

The act gives the Minister of Science and Technology, Mosibudi Mangena, the power to declare astronomy advantage areas to ensure that large scale and globally important astronomy facilities are protected from developments that might interfere with their research activities.

Bernie Fanaroff, project manager of SA's bid to host the SKA said the passing of the bill was an important milestone.

"This marks a tremendous boost for our international bid to host the SKA, which is likely to be the largest and most sensitive radio telescope in the next two decades, consisting of thousands of dishes between 10 and 15m in diameter," he said.

According to Fanaroff the benefits of the legislation included the protection of large scale investments already made in astronomy; and the preservation of an environment for a global astronomy hub that will continue to attract international investment.

- SAPA