The Weekend Property and Construction News establishes new sources for local news content
This week's issue includes news from the The Property Professional Online made available to us by Rodney Hayter, links to articles,etc. from ProjectPro done with the kind permission of Terry Deacon and information garnered from the SAFCEC export circular and Newsletter arranged for us by Rouan du Rand of Shaftsinkers with Paul Rogers of SAFCEC. A heartfelt word of thanks to Rodney, Terry and Paul for their support.
We also hope that you like the subtle makeover we gave this issue. To have a look at earlier issues and compare the difference visit the ASAQS website at http://www.asaqs.co.za/news/property_news.html.
The Editor
The Weekend Property and Construction News

BHP Billiton's Mozal project 42% complete
BHP Billiton's $860m expansion project at its Mozal aluminium smelter near Maputo, is 42% complete in terms of construction and remains within budget
(©www.bday.co.za)

Babcock Borsig begins insolvency proceedings
Berlin - Manufacturing and engineering firm Babcock Borsig on Friday announced it had started insolvency proceedings, the latest in a string of high-profile bankruptcies in an election year for Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder.
(©www.busrep.co.za)

Sasol likely to sell its fibres business chunk by chunk
Durban - Sasol has not found a once-off buyer for its R520 million fibres business in south Durban and appears set to sell the land and machines chunk by chunk. Sasol Fibres, which operated for nearly a decade making acrylic fibres from chemicals for use in products such as blankets and carpets, has almost shut up shop.
(©www.busrep.co.za)

Mettle enters the leveraged buyout market in R142m deal
Company working on more transactions. Financial services boutique Mettle has launched into the leveraged buyout market, leading a R142m acquisition of Murray & Roberts's crane hire division.
(©www.bday.co.za)

Firing SA industry with energy from gas
SA INDUSTRY, powered for decades by coal, will soon have a cleaner-burning and possibly cheaper energy source in the form of natural gas, pumped from reserves lying off the coasts of SA and its neighbours, Mozambique and Namibia.
(©www.bday.co.za)

More funds for Cape convention centre
Political Correspondent CAPE TOWN Western Cape government has increased its allocation to the R580m Cape Town convention centre by R42m spread over two years because of cost escalations.
(©www.bday.co.za)

Community game reserve for Zululand
THE Matenjwa Tribal Authority has taken the first step in creating a new community-run game reserve in northern Zululand to boost the local economy.
(©www.bday.co.za)

New roadmap for SA’s roads
Excellence costs, but in the long run mediocrity costs far more, and therefore South Africa needs to emphasise efficient and expeditious transport infrastructure development and maintenance, the South African National Roads Agency (Sanra) states in a new vision document.
(©www.engineeringnews.co.za)

Cape backing to two wind-farms
Cape Town is throwing its weight behind the Western Cape's two wind-energy projects – the Darling demonstration wind-farm and Eskom's wind-energy demonstration facility.
(©www.engineeringnews.co.za)

Construction shifts into high gear
July will see a flurry of activity on the site of what is to be one of Johannesburg's most notable landmarks, the Nelson Mandela Bridge.
(©www.engineeringnews.co.za)

Site set for construction of $294-m processing facility
The $294-million central processing facility (CPF), which will be located at the Temane gasfields in Mozambique, some 30 km north-west of Vilanculos, is an integral part of Sasol's $1,2-billion project to bring natural gas to South Africa by 2004
(©www.engineeringnews.co.za)

SA-Canada in railways agreement
The Rail Road Association of South Africa (RRA)) and its Canadian counterpart, the Railway Association of Canada (RAC), have agreed in principle to cooperate in promoting efficient land transport public policies and to share rail-related technical expertise.
(©www.engineeringnews.co.za)

Coega opening doors for construction SMMEs
The Coega project’s commitment to empowering small, medium and micro-sized enterprises (SMMEs), particularly those located within the Nelson Mandela Metropolitan area, is reaping economic benefits for local business.
(©www.engineeringnews.co.za)

First private power plant on the cards
South Africa's first privately funded power station is on the cards for Richards Bay but the developers have many hurdles to overcome before the project becomes a reality.
(©www.busrep.co.za)

SAFCEC NEWS

SECTORAL DETERMINATION CIVIL ENGINEERING INDUSTRY
In terms of the Sectoral Determination for the industry the new minimum entry wage and the across the board increase, to apply from 3 September 2002, is the CPI for May 2002 plus 2%. The CPI for May 2002 was determined as 8.4%. All new permanent or limited duration employees must be employed on at least the new minimum entry wage. Employees in your employ on 3 September 2002 must receive an across the board increase of 10.4% to their wage.

Attached click on the link to find a Table setting out the new minimum entry wages for the different areas.

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Foundation laid at R270m Pietermaritzburg mall
Durban - After lengthy delays work has now begun on a regional shopping centre in Pietermaritzburg and the centre, which is expected to provide an economic boost for the region, will open in September next year. The project, kick-started by Rand Merchant Bank (RMB) Properties and Investec, has been purchased by Liberty Properties.
(©www.busrep.co.za)

Exclusive use cuts both ways
One of the most valuable and sought-after provisions in a retail lease for tenants is an exclusive use provision. Exclusives restrict the ability of a landlord to lease other space in a project for specified uses. This type of provision helps protect the exclusive-holder tenant's control with respect to a particular category of goods or items sold in a shopping center.
(©www.industryclick.com)

Scrutinizing synthetic LEASES
By acting quickly last year, PETsMART Inc. avoided a dicey situation that could have landed the company in a financial doghouse. With the synthetic lease on a number of its properties — including its large distribution facility for the western United States — coming to a close this year, the Phoenix-based pet supplies retailer faced four possible considerations: purchase the property, refinance, sell to a third party, or walk away with a financial penalty.
(©www.industryclick.com)

Top strips fetch top dollar
Although the shopping center industry has seen its share of innovations — factory outlet centers, power centers, lifestyle centers — more buyers than ever are going back to the basic neighborhood center.
(©www.icsc.org)

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Basic free water reaching 27m people
Following government's free basic water programme implemented a year ago, at least 27-million people – who previously had no access to water – are now able to enjoy a basic amount of free water per household per month.
(©www.engineeringnews.co.za)

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Court finds ban on farming to be illegal
A Zimbabwean high court judge ruled yesterday that amendments to a land law that made it illegal for some farmers to carry on farming were unconstitutional.
(©www.bday.co.za)

Food becomes latest political weapon in Harare's hands
In some areas people must show party cards to get grain, and in others it is distributed at Zanu (PF) meetings LONG lines of people waiting for maize meal snake through the streets of a nation that was once the breadbasket of southern Africa.
(©www.bday.co.za)

Leon warns on Zimbabwe's dire food gap
THE food gap in Zimbabwe, a shortfall between what the country needed to provide minimum nutrition to its population and what it actually had, stood at 75%, the highest in recent history, Democratic Alliance (DA) leader Tony Leon said yesterday.
(©www.bday.co.za)

Zimbabwe back in Stone Age, says Leon
Parliamentary Editor CAPE TOWN Zimbabwe has been taken back to the Stone Age by President Robert Mugabe, said Democratic Alliance (DA) leader Tony Leon yesterday after the first day of a visit to the country.
(©www.bday.co.za)

EU to give Zambia €361m for development
Zambia president Levy Mwanawasa earlier this week said that the European Union (EU) had pledged €361-million over the next five years to his impoverished southern African country for development programmes.
(©www.engineeringnews.co.za)

Consortia bid for Moz railway rehab
Consortia that qualify to bid for the rehabilitation and operation of the Sena and Machipanda railway lines in Mozambique should be announced later this year.
(©www.engineeringnews.co.za)

Nigeria pushes for West Africa pipeline
Nigerian president Olusegun Obasanjo earlier this week said he would hold ChevronTexaco and its partners to a promised 2005 completion date of an ambitious West Africa gas pipeline.
(©www.engineeringnews.co.za)

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Khumalo is set to pay £15m for Cluff Mining shares
MZI Khumalo, who is steadily building up a portfolio of mining assets, is to pay £15m for Cluff Mining shares and future rights to Cluff shares, which could see the entrepreneur holding a stake of about 27% in the UK-listed company by the end of next year.
(©www.bday.co.za)

Forging a shared vision on future of SA mining
Proposed advisory board could help state and stakeholders agree on common aims LAST week saw the passage into law of the new minerals bill. The debate concerning this bill has revealed some of the old ugly divides in our society.
(©www.bday.co.za)

Iron ore sector set for major expansion
Empowerment a key factor in the future development of the industry BULK commodities iron ore and coal are in plentiful supply in SA, but it is iron ore that has serious expansion potential.
(©www.bday.co.za)

Aflease plans a R110m share placing
Resources Correspondent AFRIKANDER Lease (Aflease) is planning a share placement to raise more than R100m, money it would use to extend its open pit gold mining operations underground.
(©www.bday.co.za)

A woman with an earthmoving-equipment passion
While female suppliers to the mining industry are still as rare as hens’ teeth due to the difficulty they encounter when entering this male-dominated field, some suppliers have been successful despite these obstacles.
(©www.miningweekly.co.za)

Anglo spends $2,3bn boosting Gold Fields' stake
Resources Correspondent ANGLO American has spent R2,35bn increasing its stake in Gold Fields to 20% in a move that will allow the company to add its share of Gold Fields' earnings to Anglo's bottom line.
(©www.bday.co.za)

State, PGM leader seek solution to differences
Government and the world’s leading platinum producer, Anglo Platinum, has established a three-a-side committee to facilitate the finding of an amicable solution to the problem regarding the processing of mining applications.
(©www.miningweekly.co.za)

Venezuela favors fast tender for gold-mine
The head of Venezuela’s state industrial holding Corporation Venezolana de Guayana (CVG) has said he favored a speeded-up tender process to select a foreign partner to develop the disputed Las Cristinas gold-mine.
(©www.miningweekly.co.za)

Jewellery giant resumes tanzanite sales
World-renowned US jewellery store and initial marketer of tanzanite, Tiffany & Co, has announced that it will resume sales of the rare precious gemstone.
(©www.miningweekly.co.za)

Extension for Aussie gold bid
Mining giant Placer Dome yesterday extended its hostile takeover offer for Australia’s AurionGold until July 24, as it attempts to assemble the world’s fifth-largest gold-mining house.
(©www.miningweekly.co.za)

SA miner files for US offering
South Africa’s second-largest gold producer, Gold Fields, has filed with the US Securities and Exchange Commission for an offering of ordinary shares.
(©www.miningweekly.co.za)

Aluminium supply, demand to rise sharply
Global aluminium supply appears certain to increase substantially during the next few years, but analyst Robin Bhar, of Standard Bank, is confident that the effect on prices will be mitigated by rising demand
(©www.miningweekly.co.za)

Century-old geological society ponders future
The Geological Society of South Africa (GSSA) is, at 102, one of the oldest and also one of the largest scientific and professional associations in the country. However, South Africa's mining industry has, in the past few years, undergone great changes, and tertiary education is currently subject to transformation in many respects – leaving one to ask whether the society is still relevant, says newly-elected president Uwe Reimold.
(©www.miningweekly.co.za)

Zinc-mine, refinery are 80% complete
By end-May this year, the joint venture between Bateman Engineering, of South Africa, and SNC-Lavalin, from Canada, known as the Skorpion Project Joint Venture (SPJV), had completed about 80% of its mandate for the development of Anglo American's state-of-the-art Skorpion zinc-mine and refinery located in Rosh Pinah, in southern Namibia.
(©www.miningweekly.co.za)

R1,3-bn smelter construction passes the halfway mark
Platinum is set to do for Polokwane, capital of the Limpopo Province, what it did for Rustenburg, in the North West Province, by being the centre of gravity in Anglo Platinum's (AngloPlat's) expansion projects on the Eastern Limb of South Africa's platinum-rich Bushveld Complex.
(©www.miningweekly.co.za)

UK miner to raise cash for SA venture
UK miner Cluff Mining today said it was raising $29-million through a sale of new shares to fund a South African joint venture with Anglo American Platinum (Angloplat).
(©www.miningweekly.co.za)

We'll grow our own assets, says new million-carats-a-year gem miner
Building a new, black-owned and majority-controlled, diamond-mining company, from scratch, without a committed cash flow, in the South African context is no easy task, but is exactly what the sector’s new entrant is setting out to achieve.
(©www.miningweekly.co.za)

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Winter's best for major projects
Homeowners' associations in cluster developments, estates and other gated communities should plan construction or major renovation projects to take place in the winter months.
(©www.property24.co.za)

Spotlight on: Mossel Bay
The news that Mossel Bay will probably have its own casino by year-end has added fuel to the flourishing residential property market in and around the southern Cape town.
(©www.property24.co.za)

More Web buyers use agents
Nearly two-thirds of US home buyers with Internet access use the Internet to shop for their next home, and buyers who use the Internet are more likely to use a real estate professional to handle their transaction than traditional home buyers.
(©www.property24.co.za)

Inner city revival predicted
South Africa's city dwellers can look forward to a wave of large and daring new property developments and the regeneration of older properties in the next decade.
(©www.property24.co.za)

Kommetijie nets upmarket buyers
The Cape's most famous unspoilt fishing village, Kommetjie, is emerging from a sustained property boom that has seen home prices soar by 25 to 28 percent a year over the past two years.
(©www.property24.co.za)

Facing up to seller's remorse
Seller's remorse is not as common in real estate as buyer's remorse, but it does occur - and in some cases so powerfully that the home seller seriously contemplates cancelling the sale and staying put.
(©www.property24.co.za)

Simple, but effective, approach to selling land
An elementary introduction to the workings of the property industry at a young age has led to great things for Vinesh Ramdass.
(©www.busrep.co.za)

FNB HomeLoans races into second spot
Strong demand for domestic homeloan finance resulting from the buoyant property market, coupled with rapid acquisitive growth this year has seen First National Bank HomeLoans catapulted into the big league of SA home loan providers to the point where it is now the second largest provider of home loans in metropolitan South Africa.
According to a press release, FNB now has nearly 300 000 home loan customers on its books representing a 20 percent market share of the total home loan business. But not all the growth the bank has experienced has been through acquisitions. It had already grown its share of the domestic mortgage market from seven percent to 11 percent - prior to its most recent acquisitions which have given it further momentum.
(©The Property Professional Online)

Bond Choice gets "big four" support
Bond Choice, the latest force to download onto the flourishing mortgage origination market, is being promised by its Durban head office management to underpin and give further strength to the growing trend which is based on Australian and American models.
(©The Property Professional Online)

Television gives lift to property sales
Proper TV, a newly-created company launched with the specific purpose of promoting residential property and allied products on television, will be flighting a new programme, Weekend Property, from July 6 with the support of ten residential developers and at least eight of the major residential property groups, according to CEO Peter Armitage.
The service will be aired on DSTV's Channel 55 in the form of a one hour programme which will be looped during peak viewing time from 7 p.m. on Saturday to 11 p.m. and again on Sunday from 9 am to 1 p.m. Potential viewership is 600 000 households, or about 1,5 million viewers.
(©The Property Professional Online)

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The Five Ws of Project Management
You think you know? You have no idea. Throw those books out the window, forget what your teacher taught ya, and listen up. There are five new Ws in town, and they carry the secret to successful project management.
(©www.projectmanagement.co.za)

How many projects can you juggle?
A question often asked is "How many projects can a project manager cope with simultaneously?" The answer is "It all depends."
Worth your salt as a project manager?
When hiring a project manager, what assurance can be given that he or she is competent to do the job? Much has been done recently to try and measure competence through the certification or registration of project managers. Terry Deacon PMP takes a look at the global status of certifying project managers.
(©www.projectpro.co.za)

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Investing requires long-term strategy
As a result of the Federal Reserve dropping US interest rates nine times last year - in an attempt to stimulate the economy and tumultuous world markets - many top fund managers are losing their hard-earned credibility.
(©www.busrep.co.za)

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JSE ends week more positive
Bruised shares on the JSE on Friday healed some of the wounds they suffered at the start of the week, but the mood on the market was still jittery and trade volumes were low
(©www.news24.com)

Govt gets Qunta report
Johannesburg - A dissenting report by one of the three commissioners probing the reasons for the rand's slide last year has been submitted to Justice Minister Penuell Maduna, the ministry said on Thursday.
(©www.news24.com)

Time to get your CPD portfolio together
The current cycle of the Continuing Professional Development program closes on 30 June 2002. Registered quantity surveyors have 30 days to submit their portfolio of CPD activities to the EduTech Centre in PE. We have designed some forms in MSExcel and MsWord format to ease the pain! The forms can be downloaded from the CUG. Click on "CPD" to gain access to the forms and the CPD booklet.

Die Afrikaanse weergawe van die vorm in sigblad-formaat is ook nou beskikbaar - danksy Francois Pretorius van DOW!

Where are they now?
Wish you knew where some of your old colleagues or varsity pals are? Or do you want to let old friends know where they can reach you? Then this forum is for you.

Visit our brand new forums on the ASAQS website you'll find them by clicking on Topics on the menubar of our site.

Remember: Visit the ASAQS website for new updates!

New members to the CUG

Flavia Chwene

Please note that your registration to the CUG will remain in force as long as you remain a member of ASAQS and there is no need to register every year. If you have not received an e-mail confirming your registration contact ASAQS.

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