PROPERTY DEVELOPMENT, ENGINEERING AND CONSTRUCTION

SOUTH AFRICAN NEWS

US attacks affect SA construction
The local construction industry will take some knocks as a result of the September 11 terror attacks on the US, says the Bureau for Economic Research. In its presentation on the economic outlook for the construction industry held in Johannesburg yesterday, the bureau's senior economist, Charles Smith, said that the global economy could be in for a hard landing, but local fundamentals could minimise the battering in the SA economy.
(©www.bday.co.za)

Ballito mixes business and leisure
Durban - The wraps come off a R135 million business park and lifestyle shopping centre in Ballito this week. Sean Moffat, the project manager of Phezulu Projects, said the Ballito Business Park, developed by Popechester, a consortium of Pietermaritzburg business people and backed by Investec, would fit in with the area's emerging residential and holiday character.
(©www.busrep.co.za)

Redefine boosts property sector
Property loan stock company Redefine Income Fund produced headline earnings of 35c a linked unit out of revenue of R215m during an extremely busy year which ended August. The performance under review represented an income yield of 13% and capital growth of 34% on the review period's closing price of 270c a linked unit.
(©www.bday.co.za)

Marriott to list focused property fund on JSE
Marriott Property Services is listing SA Retail Properties, the 19th property loan stock company on the JSE Securities Exchange SA, on Friday. The fund will be a focused fund a departure from the trend of diversified portfolios in the local listed property sector. Observers believe that the listed property sector, worth about R11bn in market capitalisation, is too small and not suited for focused funds.
(©www.bday.co.za)

Kagiso Ventures acquires shares in Waco operations
Johannesburg - Kagiso Ventures, the private equity arm of empowerment group Kagiso Trust Investments, had acquired 25,1 percent of construction Form-Scaff and SGB for an undisclosed sum, Afzal Patel, the executive director of Kagiso Ventures, said on Tuesday.
(©www.busrep.co.za)

Ownership change pays off for Alberton shopping centre
A consortium of private investors has taken over from Sanlam an ailing 22000m² shopping centre in Alberton, east of Johannesburg, and within three months of relaunching, has it fully let. The centre, formerly known as Sanlam Centre, adjacent to Newmarket Racecourse, was 97% vacant before the transfer of ownership from Sanlam. Within three months of the centre's relaunch as Newmarket Mall it is 100% let.
(©www.bday.co.za)

Sasol pipeline no pipe dream
A project which could boost the economy of Mozambique by a fifth is in the pipeline and that pipeline is being built by Sasol. By about Christmas time, the chosen consortium of contractors will be announced, and work will begin in February on the pipeline 865km long, 660mm wide and with a wall thickness of 1cm which will stretch from Mozambique's Temane and Pande gas fields to Sasol's Secunda facility. SA construction companies Murray & Roberts, Grinaker-LTA and Concor are among the six consortia on the short-list for the pipeline construction tender, which could be worth anything up to $600m.
(©www.bday.co.za)

Lease deal will help Don Group
Cape Town Don Group directors Marc Wainer and Sidney Ellerine have come to the aid of the cash-strapped suite hotel group by buying and leasing back to it six properties via a vehicle called Ellwain Investments. The deal clears R105m of debt from the Don Group's balance sheet, reducing its long-term liabilities from R80m to R2,2m.
(©www.bday.co.za)

NBS Bank to pay out R160m to settle fraud obligations
Durban - NBS Bank, the BoE subsidiary, would fork out at least R160 million because of obligations arising from a fraud scheme hatched by a former branch manager, the bank disclosed yesterday. The payments were unlikely to hit the income statement because NBS had fidelity insurance worth R100 million and had set aside provisions for these purposes, said Don Bowden, the head of investor relations and communications for BoE.
(©www.busrep.co.za)

NEWS FROM AFRICA

Costs forced Metorex to mothball mine
But firm insists the closure is only temporary. Junior mining group Metorex's decision to mothball its Chibuluma South copper mining and processing operations in Zambia appears to have taken that country by surprise. Nevertheless, according to CE Simon Malone, closure of the processing plant will be temporary. It is likely to be reopened once mining operations access richer sulphide ore lying below the oxide ore which was to be mined first.
(©www.bday.co.za)

5 percent growth seen for Zambia in 2001
Lusaka - Zambia's economy is expected to grow five percent in 2001, marking the first time in many years that the government will achieve its target, finance minister Katele Kalumba said Friday.
(©www.busrep.co.za)

TotalFinaElf's Angolan deep water project on track
Luanda - The $2.7 billion deep water Girassol project off Angola's shores is on track to pump its first oil by year's end, a senior official at TotalFinaElf said on Tuesday.
(©www.busrep.co.za)

Girl dies after building caves in on her
Lagos - A girl was killed in Nigeria's capital when a building under construction caved in on her, three days after another building collapsed here killing at least four people, a newspaper reported on Saturday.
(©www.iol.co.za)

HOUSING NEWS AND LAND ISSUES

Land restitution too slow, say commercial farmers
Nelspruit - Land restitution in South Africa should be speeded up, Agri SA president Japie Grobler said yesterday. "I don't think it's fast enough. We should see a lot more speed and effective handling of the situation," he said.
(©www.busrep.co.za)

Keep on building RDP houses, minister insists
Housing Minister Sankie Mthembi-Mahanyele has reined in the Gauteng housing department, and insisted that it continue building low-cost Reconstruction and Development Programme houses.
(©www.iol.co.za)

MINING NEWS

Western Areas to unveil deal soon
Western Areas, a Johannesburg-listed gold mining company, is expected to announce details of a long-awaited deal soon. Brett Kebble, CE of the company, which has a 50% interest in the Placer Dome Western Areas joint venture, confirmed that an announcement was imminent. Details were not given but there have been a number of reports that Placer Dome may move to buy Western Areas' 50% holding in South Deep Mine.
(©www.bday.co.za)

To rescue Saldanha or not to?
That is the question many in the industry are pondering as IDC bails out the ailing plant with R5bn. Hanging on the wall inside the office building at Iscor's Sishen mine is an ageing photograph of a cluster of mine managers. But one man stands out. He is Martiens Mulder, who has long since moved from Sishen to run its largest customer, Saldanha Steel. He stands out because he is wearing the most ghastly shiny suit, which will hopefully by now have been donated to one of Sishen's least deserving charity cases.
(©www.bday.co.za)

Iscor may review rights issue
Global steel market will determine whether it needs R1,67bn to pay off debt. A planned R1,67bn rights issue in an unbundled Iscor Steel could be scaled down, the steel and mining group revealed yesterday. The rights issue is expected to be launched in February or March, and is designed to bring down the debt of Iscor's steel business, post-unbundling.
(©www.bday.co.za)

CAM, JCI Gold face JSE suspension
Investment company Consolidated African Mines Ltd and mining investment and finance company JCI Gold Ltd could face suspension from the JSE for failing to submit their financial records on time
(©www.bday.co.za)

Petra results fall short of expectations
Gold mining company Petra saw a drop in earnings from R5m to R633000 for the year ending June, according to results which have just been published. Petra said the results had been less favourable than expected because of lower production both in tons and in yield at its Skukuza Project. Turnover was down to R281,9m from R342,5m in the last period. Headline earning a share was down to 0,8c from 6,3c.
(©www.bday.co.za)

SA's gold firms flex muscles
After recent consolidation frenzy, major companies eye overseas opportunities, especially in Australia. The SA gold industry went into a bit of a consolidation frenzy last month, notching up deals worth R16,4bn and fuelling expectation that there will be more announcements on this front soon.
(©www.bday.co.za)

Range of stigma dog property prices
A luxury flat buyer in Hong Kong backs out of the purchase after hearing a toddler fell to his death from the balcony. Home owners in Minnesota sue to have their property taxes lowered and win after the Environmental Protection Agency says there is harmful but reversible contamination in the area. A fast food restaurant in New York is sold at a discount after five people are murdered in the building. Appraisers call this phenomenon stigma. Though largely intangible, it has a significant effect on property values. Randy Bell, an expert on damaged property, lists 10 different categories of problems that make it hard to sell a property for what it seems to be worth. These range from airport noise and hurricane threats to mould, a health threat.
(©www.bday.co.za)

Home owners should fix rates'
Home owners have been urged to fix interest rates and reap the benefit of a 10-year low level of interest rates. The advice comes from property professionals after last week's repo rate cut to 9,5%. Major banks cut their home loan rate from 13,5% to 13%. Seeff Residential Properties chairman Samuel Seeff says: "If you were thinking about fixing your rate, we urge you to consider doing so, as there will not be a better time."
(©www.bday.co.za)

Knysna development enters home stretch
Sparrebosch Clifftop Estate and Country Club has launched its final phase of development, which offers 70 stands with prices ranging between R435000 and R2,5m. Developers believe the 430-stand development in Knysna, Eastern Cape, will draw investment worth more than R700m by completion. Already 70% of the stands have been sold, setting the projects' development lifespan at six to seven years. Buyers are expected to complete building within four years of buying.
(©www.bday.co.za)

‘Supply is still behind demand’
Housing supply continues to fall short of demand in the major metropolitan areas - with the exception of Cape Town.
(©www.property24.co.za)

"Dynamic Concrete in the 21st Century"
Three new projects by Rafael Moneo, Steven Holl, and Richard Meier illustrate the ongoing vitality of the world's oldest building material.
(©www.archrecord.com)

"What is the Health of my Project?, The Use and Benefits of Earned Value."
The authors describe the advantages of using EVM for project management. They maintain that budget vs actuals (spend plan) management is not enough. EVM provides a predictive capability that every PM needs to bring his/her project in on time and on budget. (Note : Article in PDF format)
(©www.acq.osd.mil)

Our sympathy and condolences to Mr Basie Botha, Executive Director of ASAQS who's wife, Elna, passed away on Sunday, 30 September 2001.

Project Financing
Project Finance usually involves the financing of a development in which repayment is principally from the project revenues during operation. Its main aim is to attract private sector investment into works normally undertaken by the public sector. These include roads, railways, power generation, prisons, office buildings, hospitals, housing, community buildings and schools.

GET YOUR FREE ESTIMATING SOFTWARE !!!
It pays to be a member of ASAQS! This month we bring you a free software package worth thousands of rands. It is a slick, simple-to-understand estimating program that will give you good-looking accurate estimates in a spreadsheet format -- all with a minimum start-up effort. ... The learning curve is about 30 minutes -- the time it takes to figure out how to type in your amounts and unit costs and insert items from a database. What's more, you can customise the databases to suit your needs and use the program for far more that what it was originally intended. Get your free copy from our CUG today!

Remain updated on the BEP Convention
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New members to the CUG
A warm word of welcome to the following members who have joined us in the CUG during the past week:

Mark Cridlan
Charles Sprong
Lebogang Shole
Albert Loveday

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.