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PROPERTY DEVELOPMENT, ENGINEERING
AND CONSTRUCTION
Role
of the property manager must be split into two functions
Total control of receipts and expenditure can be a problem. The
property management industry should be redefined to allow it to
focus either on asset management or facilities management, says
Hugo Stroud, CEO of Planet Facilities Management. He says property
managers should define their roles clearly, as they cannot be all
things to all people.
(©www.bday.co.za)
'Oyster
Box' is a pearl for buyers
UMHLANGA'S famous landmark hotel, the Oyster Box - as well as two
other properties owned by the late owner - were put on the market
this week.
(©www.iol.co.za)
Gauteng
to cash in on conservation
Reserve designed for business tourists. Big commercial property
development opportunities are in the pipeline for northeast Gauteng,
thanks to the province's agriculture and land affairs department.
The opportunities include hotels, lodges, entertainment facilities,
and retail and residential developments in the Nokeng tsa Taemane
municipal district, between Pretoria and Bronkhorstspruit.
(©www.bday.co.za)
Replica
materials for Pta station rebuild
The unusual nature of the replica products required to restore the
charred Pretoria station to its former glory is creating opportunities
for local contractors and artisans in the field of carpentry, tiling,
roof construction, and painting, reports Stocks Building Africa
MD: Gauteng Johan Brink.
(©www.engineeringnews.co.za)
New
property fund to list on the JSE
A new property fund is to list on the JSE Securities Exchange on
Tuesday in the property loan stock sector - currently one of the
JSE's more active sectors. Arnold Property Fund Limited (A-Prop)
has 58 properties, valued at R814 million, which were acquired by
deal originator Fusion Capital on behalf of A-Prop.
(©www.iol.co.za)
Dockside
up for auction
Dockside, the R56-million mega- entertainment venue and night club
at Century City, is to be auctioned next month following the liquidation
of the company brought by its largest creditor, BoE Bank.
(©www.iol.co.za)
Valuable
industrial areas being revitalised
A R102-million investment is under way to arrest the decline of
an area which produces 40% of South Africa's total manufacturing
output. The 15 km Wadeville–Alrode Industrial Corridor project
will not only optimise transport facilities between these East Rand
areas, but maximise the economic potential of this lucrative manufacturing
area.
(©www.engineeringnews.co.za)
Indian
giant scouts SA investment options
India's diversified Tata group is exploring several investment opportunities
in South Africa, including a multimillion-rand ferrochrome-manufacturing
facility at Richards Bay.Syamal Gupta, chairperson of several Tata
companies – including Tata International – tells Engineering
News that a decision on the ferrochrome project is expected in six
months.
(©www.engineeringnews.co.za)
15
000 vehicles a day over Mandela bridge
March 2003 will see the completion of one of the largest cable-stayed
bridges in South Africa – the 284-m-long Nelson Mandela bridge,
which will link Braamfontein with Newtown, immediately west of the
Johannesburg city centre.
(©www.engineeringnews.co.za)
Govt
does rail policy U-turn
The Department of Public Enterprises (DPE) is expected to abandon
its previously-held position that the profitable bulk-transport
lines of rail utility Spoornet be hived off as part of a far-reaching
restructuring and privatisation plan. The view that Spoornet's coal-transport
business, CoalLink, and its iron-ore unit, Orex, be concessioned
was contained within a DPE- commissioned policy report drafted by
UK consultants NM Rothschild earlier this year.
(©www.engineeringnews.co.za)
Union
welcomes new rail-restructuring mood
The South African Transport and Allied Workers Union (Satawu), which
believes the intended concessioning of rail parastatal Spoornet's
cash cows – CoalLink and Orex – will deal a body blow
to the country's railway system, says it is "happy that the
government is willing to revisit its position on this issue".
(©www.engineeringnews.co.za)
Assisting
stakeholders to identify the pitfalls
Assuming the role of ombudsman often means involvement
throughout the duration of a project. A commonly held view among
project-management consultants is that large information technology
(IT) projects are typically over budget, often late on delivery
and do not always deliver the desired quality.
(©www.bday.co.za)
Optical
industry in peppery mood over Salt
The fact that the South African Large Telescope (Salt) Foundation
does not expect a South African company to manufacture the new telescope's
spherical aberration corrector, reported in Engineering News June
8 this year (p.17), has caused dismay and annoyance among those
familiar with the local optics industry.
(©www.bday.co.za)
NEWS
FROM AFRICA
Senegal
plans second international airport
Senegal plans to build a second international airport on the outskirts
of the capital, Dakar, reported the West African country's prime
minister. Mame Madior Boye said work would start in September or
October and is expected to take three years. "An international
airport with a minimum yearly capacity of three- million passengers
is an essential condition if we want to meet our tourism development
targets," she told parliament.
(©www.engineeringnews.co.za)
Restart
delay for Nigeria aluminium smelter
Nigeria's troubled 193 000 t capacity aluminium smelter now hopes
to reopen next December or January, four months off its previous
target, officials have said. They told Reuters the restart of the
facility, in south-eastern Ikot Abasi, had been delayed by ongoing
work to complete outstanding facilities and the need for new service
providers to settle in.
(©www.engineeringnews.co.za)
Malawi
invites 800 borehole-construction tenders
The Malawi government has planned to construct 800 new boreholes
and is inviting sealed bids from eligible bidders for their construction.
The internal procurement committee of the country's ministry of
water says bidding is open to all locally registered contractors
who may go into joint venture with foreign contractors provided
the main contractor is local and carries out work costing at least
80% of the contract price.
(©www.engineeringnews.co.za)
Europe-Africa
undersea power-connection plan
Spain and Algeria have agreed to back the construction of a new
gas pipeline and an underwater electricity cable between Europe
and North Africa. "Together we want to implement these as soon
as possible," Algerian Energy Minister Chakib Khelil told reporters.
The projects will go some way to satisfying Spain's growing power
demand, especially for gas, which is expected to double from current
levels of just more than 15-billion cubic metres by 2010.
(©www.engineeringnews.co.za)
Illegal
diamond mining continues unchecked
Freetown Sierra Leonean rebels and pro-government
militia were not complying with a mining ban imposed in the eastern
diamond heartland of Kono, government and UN sources said on Saturday.
"Rampant illicit mining continues in the district," one
official at the UN mission in Sierra Leone said.
(©www.bday.co.za)
HOUSING NEWS AND LAND ISSUES
'Every
South African will be housed'
Johannesburg - "We will not rest until every South African is housed,"
Nhlanhla Mjoli-Mncube, the executive director of the National Urban
Reconstruction and Housing Agency, said yesterday at the official
launch of the National Savings Scheme (NSS).
(©www.busrep.co.za)
Housing
policy on track Mthembi-Mahanyele
Land invasion' was a political stage
play largely engineered by the Pan Africanist Congress. The Bredell
land invasion is one of the few issues that makes Housing Minister
Sanki MthembiMahanyele fume. This is understandable, because activities
such as those in Bredell, if they reflect a genuine crisis, result
in a questioning of her competence. Her job is to address SA's housing
backlog, estimated at being between 2-million and 3-million houses.
(©www.bday.co.za)
Bredell
land invasion man hits back
Sour grapes, says PAC councillor, who claims ANC is trying to smear
him and denies pocketing payments of squatters. David Ngwenya, the
Pan Africanist Congress (PAC) ward councillor accused by police
and the Sunday Times of being the man behind the Bredell land invasion,
claims that he is the victim of a smear campaign.
(©www.bday.co.za)
Housing
needs joint effort
Neither government nor the private sector can deliver on its own.
The failure of the low-income housing market has been highlighted
by the media in the recent debate on the closure of Gateway. Government
blames the banks and the banks respond in kind. What is the truth?
(©www.bday.co.za)
Housing
policy shift to get poor involved in saving
The housing department wants to get
more recipients of low-cost housing subsidies to pay a portion of
the costs towards the development of their homes, raising fears
that the destitute will be excluded in housing delivery.
(©www.bday.co.za)
Cape
Town will not stand for land grabs'
In the wake of yet another land occupation
protest by homeless people from Khayelitsha, the unicity council
declared a zerotolerance approach to land invasions yesterday. "While
the city is sympathetic to the plight of these people, the bottom
line is that land grabs are not on," said the unicity's interim
housing manager, Hans Smit.
(©www.bday.co.za)
Eviction
costs hobble land owners
The removal of illegal squatters and the tearing down of their shacks
has turned out to be so costly that the expense of the eviction
could equal the value of the land if enough squatters are involved.
Abraham Duvenhage, who has been growing beans and maize on a farm
near Benoni, east of Johannesburg, for more than 40 years, was told
by the Benoni sheriff last month that it would cost him R1,8m to
have 5000 squatters removed from his property. "This is after
it cost me R140000 just to get the court order to evict," Duvenhage
said yesterday.
(©www.bday.co.za)
Dead
demanding more land
While most of South Africa is involved in battles over land for
the living, finding land to accomodate the dead is becoming an urgent
issue.
(©www.busrep.co.za)
MINING NEWS
Future
of gold mining 'lies beyond SA'
Johannesburg - The future of South Africa's gold
mining industry was outside the country, Chris Thompson, the chief
executive and chairman of Gold Fields, said earlier this week. He
said it would be difficult to expand the sector in the country because
most of the remaining gold deposits were deep underground and would
be too expensive to mine
(©www.busrep.co.za)
Australia,
SADC strengthen ties
Ministers meet in Pretoria to seek new ways to bolster investment
in mining sector. The Southern African Development Corporation (SADC)
and Australia have strengthened ties in the mining and resource
sector, in an effort to boost the growth of the industry on both
sides of the ocean.
(©www.bday.co.za)
Angloplat
aims to stay at the top'
Company plans to double Bafokeng-Rasimone
output in project. Anglo Platinum (Angloplat), which produces about
2-million ounces a year, is doubling the capacity of its BafokengRasimone
mine at a cost of R2,24bn. Analysts see the move as the clearest
indication yet that the company, majority owned by resources conglomerate
Anglo American, wants to keep its position as the most important
source of the precious metal in the coming decade.
(©www.bday.co.za)
Iscor
workers strike, mull new offer
Members of the National Union of Metalworkers of SA embark on a
strike in the form of general meetings during working hours at steel
and mining giant Iscor
(©www.bday.co.za)
Gold
giants set to report
Mining analysts forecast fairly good second-quarter results from
top three
SA's big three gold miners are likely to post fairly good secondquarter
results, with only Gold Fields struggling, say analysts. AngloGold
is set to release its results today, followed by Harmony Gold tomorrow
and by Gold Fields on Thursday. Mining analysts agreed that Gold
Fields would be affected by a week-long closure of two shafts at
its Beatrix mine after an explosion killed 12 workers
(©www.bday.co.za)
Well-oiled
machinery
The Chamber of Mines sometimes looks
like the African National Congress-led tripartite alliance a collection
of organisations working in related fields, pursuing different and
sometimes even conflicting interests. But though it often seems
as if a parting of the ways is imminent, it never happens, because
there are compelling reasons for the continued existence of the
often messy relationships. So they continue onwards, with eyes wide
open, towards their next falling out.
(©www.bday.co.za)
Iscor,
IDC forge iron ore supply plan
Iscor has offered to develop the Welgevonden
iron ore reserves in Northern Cape in a joint venture with the Industrial
Development Corporation (IDC) as a way of satisfying government
demands that SA steel producers have access to cheap iron ore.
(©www.bday.co.za)
Aussie
miners split on doing business in SA
Some Australian mining companies are enthusiastic about doing business
in Africa, particularly southern Africa, but others are so put off
by the continent's bad press that they will not even consider getting
involved.
(©www.bday.co.za)
Stymied
by exchange control
The restructuring of SA's gold mining industry faces a massive obstacle
in the form of exchange control. These controls, administered by
an eagle-eyed Reserve Bank, could be the real story behind AngloGold
not selling its marginal Free State operations. Faced with two offers
for the ageing Bambanani and Tshepong, the board rejected both,
officially because neither matched the group's own valuation of
the properties and because the mines were currently performing well.
(©www.bday.co.za)
Inmins'
minorities reject buy-out
Small shareholders in mining consumables supplier Inmins are lobbying
for support against the proposed deal in which parent Winhold is
to buy out minorities in Inmins. Winhold launched a merger offer
earlier this month which will involve it taking out 52,3%-held Inmins
and plastic packaging group Gundle, of which Winhold holds 65,5%.
Pyramid company Winbel will be unbundled simultaneously, reducing
the four group listings to one.
(©www.bday.co.za)
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