The end of an era in the building industry
The Building Industries Federation (Bifsa), which has been the umbrella organisation and the “voice” of the construction industry for more than 75 years, has been reduced to a small secretariat.
( ©www.mweb.co.za )

$250m East Rand theme park 'still on'
Plans to develop a $250-million theme park outside Kempton Park, on the East Rand, are still on the table, despite setbacks in securing finances for the feasibility study.
( ©www.engineeringnews.co.za )

Old Mutual sells buildings worth R240m
Old Mutual Properties recently sold 27 properties worth R240-million as part of its ongoing strategy to rejuvenate client portfolios.
( ©www.mweb.co.za )

Old Mutual wins contract to manage Lusaka mall
OLD Mutual Properties has been awarded a contract to manage Manda Hill, a 22259m² shopping centre in the heart of Lusaka. Old Mutual Properties' Brent Wiltshire says the contract follows the company's involvement as retail leasing and management consultants on developments in Egypt and assignments for its facilities management consulting division in Malawi and Swaziland.
( ©www.bday.co.za )

Messina gets R345m debt financing
CANADA's SouthernEra Resources has received a major boost for its Messina platinum project due to the announcement that Rand Merchant Bank would provide R345m in debt financing. The money will be used to complete the construction of the project, owned by Messina, a listed company, itself owned 70,4% by SouthernEra Resources.
( ©www.bday.co.za )

Maritzburg in for facelift
MARITZBURG Two prominent old Maritzburg landmarks will undergo substantial renovation. The Nedbank building on the corner of Church Street and Gallway Lane, from which the bank had operated since the early 1960s, was purchased by a local investor group for R1,4m.
( ©www.bday.co.za )

US threatens to ban steel imports
A GLOBAL trade war in steel could be looming if the US government ends up banning all steel imports from around the world, including SA, Steel Engineering Industry Federation of SA economist Michael McDonald warned yesterday. This follows the threat from US President George Bush to impose new restraints on steel imports.
( ©www.bday.co.za )

Steel mill exceeds 90% of design capacity
Western Cape state-of-the-art steel mill Saldanha Steel has announced that it has exceeded 90% of its design capacity for the month of May 2001.
( ©www.engineeringnews.co.za )

Nigerian steel companies’ privatisation bids open
Investors will be invited to bid for a 51% controlling stake in four of Nigeria’s State-owned steel-rolling mills from mid-June.
( ©www.engineeringnews.co.za )

Steel sector in skills dearth
The South African steel industry is facing a critical skills dilemma, Churchyard & Umplby MD Rob Churchyard claimed at the South African Institute of Steel Construction's workshop last month.
( ©www.engineeringnews.co.za )

Bateman signs multimillion-dollar deal
BATEMAN, the locally listed project solutions and engineering group, has signed a multimillion-dollar contract to build two diamond processing plants in the Democratic Republic of Congo.The contract, the value of which is not being disclosed, is with Oryx, an international mining company.
( ©www.bday.co.za )

Community schemes to get aid
CAPE TOWN Poor communities are to benefit financially this year through a micro-financing plan to be built into all government development projects, Social Development Minister Zola Skweyiya told Parliament yesterday. Introducing his budget vote in the National Council of Provinces (NCOP), Skweyiya said his department, in conjunction with the International Labour Organisation, would introduce a financing system whereby communities would receive help through projects they undertook. These could range from road construction to farming.
( ©www.bday.co.za )

Russia cuts debt as it seeks to gain foothold in Africa
MOSCOW The Russian government is cancelling most of Ethiopia's debts to the former Soviet Union and may do the same for Mozambique. The multibillion dollar writeoffs are part of Russia's drive to develop new business in Africa.
( ©www.bday.co.za )

Plans advance for chem hub
The shareholding of a South African virtual chemical city business concept, known as ChemCity, is expected to be finalised by year-end.
( ©www.engineeringnews.co.za )

Shell to set up retail outlets in Nigeria
LAGOS Royal-Dutch oil giant Shell is to set up 65 fuel retail stations in Nigeria's three main cities, with a further 200 stations planned for the near future. accounting for roughly half of the 2,3-million barrels of crude oil produced daily. A company source said that Shell's latest initiative will be managed by its wholly-owned subsidiary, Shell Nigeria Oil Products (Snop).
( ©www.bday.co.za )

SA gas deposits could see $1.4bn in FDI
An offshore drilling programme by the US group Forest Oil Corporation in a consortium with a SA black empowerment group could result in $1.4bn in foreign direct investment.
( ©www.bday.co.za )

KZN coal terminal decision by August
A memorandum of understanding has been signed between the holders of export entitlement at the Richards Bay Coal Terminal (RBCT) – Sasol, Ingwe, Anglo Coal,
Duiker Mining, Total Coal, Kangra and Eyesizwe – to expand the terminal's capacity by ten-million tons a year.
( ©www.engineeringnews.co.za )

Coega to sign up tenants soon'
PORT ELIZABETH The decision taken 18 months ago to go ahead with constructing the R3bn deep-water port, trans-shipment hub and industrial development zone at Coega near Port Elizabeth has transformed what was once considered a pipe dream into a viable project, according to its managers.
( ©www.bday.co.za )

SA boilers steaming up world markets
South African boiler manufacturer John Thompson Africa (JTA) appears to have cracked the export market with a number of lucrative orders.
( ©www.engineeringnews.co.za )

Lobito oil-refinery study
Angolan State-owned oil company Sonangol has signed a memorandum of understanding with a large consortium to construct a 200 000 barrel per day (bpd) refinery in the next four years, with cost estimates ranging from $2-billion to $3-billion.
( ©www.engineeringnews.co.za )

R60-million waste management facility to be constructed
Plans for a R60-million industrial and infectious waste management facility to be built in partnership with Amandla Environmental, an environmental technology company, have been announced by black-owned integrated waste management company Phambili Services.
( ©www.engineeringnews.co.za )

Construction of S Hemisphere's largest telescope advances
Africa's giant eye is reaching for the stars at the South African Astronomical Observatory outside Sutherland, in the Northern Cape.Project manager Kobus Meiring says that funding of $26-million (86%) has been secured and construction of the 11 m telescope, the largest single telescope in the Southern Hemisphere is on target to be handed over by the project team in December 2004.
( ©www.engineeringnews.co.za )

Giant telescope to be operational by year end
Currently under construction in the Khomas Highland, 100 km west of Windhoek, in Namibia, the first of four telescopes which make up phase one of the R30-million high-energy stereoscopic system (Hess) project is nearing completion and is expected to be operational near the end of the year.
( ©www.engineeringnews.co.za )

Business laws before Parliament
Three pieces of legislation governing the regulatory environment for businesses are currently being handled by two portfolio committees in Parliament
( ©www.bday.co.za )

Unshackle Alexandra's potential
Project is vital, but the city deserves a better conceptual plan.
( ©www.bday.co.za )

Municipal partnership pioneer in a squeeze
SA's pioneer of public-private municipal partnerships has found itself in an unexpected financial squeeze that will force a 15% hike in water tariffs along the Dolphin Coast, north of Durban. The Dolphin Coast partnership, between the KwaDukuza municipality and Siza Water, was seen as a beacon for the management of municipal infrastructure when it was formed in early 1999. It was followed by dozens of similar deals for the management of municipal water and sewage systems across the country.
( ©www.bday.co.za )

R35-million for enviro clean up
Environmental Affairs and Tourism Minister Valli Moosa says poverty relief projects worth around R35-million will soon be rolled out to deal with the large quantities of waste in South Africa.
( ©www.engineeringnews.co.za )

Homenet cracks the “big league”
The Homenet estate agency group sold almost 9000 homes in the year to end March – and generated R680-million worth of new homeloan business for its banking partners NBS and Absa.
( ©www.mweb.co.za )

Transborder franchises serve Pam Golding Properties well
A GOOD turnout in Zimbabwe and Mauritius, despite difficult economic conditions, has reinforced Pam Golding Properties' commitment to expanding beyond SA's borders, says CE Andrew Golding. The group's franchise office in Zimbabwe has consistently exceeded sales forecasts in the past year.
( ©www.bday.co.za )

The right time for a bigger, better home
The time is right for homeowners considering a bigger property to make their move, says leading Johannesburg estate agency principal Lew Geffen, who notes that there are two major factors currently operating in favour of “upgraders”.
( ©www.mweb.co.za )

Track closure unsettles Newmarket neighbours
Empty racetrack could exacerbate Alberton's ghost-town status OWNERS of commercial property bordering Newmarket race course in Alberton are bracing themselves following the decision to close the track. Newmarket's owner, horse-racing company Phumelela, is to stop racing at the course before the end of this year. It will have no use for the Newmarket property after its closure spurred by harsh trading conditions brought about by the introduction of the national lottery and the issuing of new casino licences and has indicated that it intends to dispose of it.
( ©www.bday.co.za )

KZN market holding to positive pattern
The KwaZulu-Natal property market continues to perform well, showing buoyancy at the upper end of the price spectrum.
( ©www.mweb.co.za )

The rights and powers of a homeowner’ association
The homeowners' association (HOA) of a cluster, estate or other gated development usually derives its authority to manage, operate and maintain the common areas and facilities from a constitution or governing document.
( ©www.mweb.co.za )

Hout Bay benefits from “northern invasion”
Back when Zimbabwe was Rhodesia, it was the little town of Enkeldoorn that captured attention by jokingly declaring itself a “Republic”. Today, however, Zimbabweans referring to the “Republic” are more likely to be talking of Hout Bay, currently the focus of intense interest among those migrating south of the Limpopo. Former Harare estate agency owner Matt Mercer, who recently joined Pam Golding Properties in Hout Bay, notes that the seaside town has always been a popular holiday and alternate home destination for landlocked Zimbabweans. Consequently, it was high on the list of choice locations for many of the 100 000 Zimbabweans who officially emigrated in the past year, and is currently benefiting from a surge in demand for new permanent residences.
( ©www.mweb.co.za )

Western Cape prices on the rise again
The value of Western Cape residential property sales totalled R2, 1bn in the four months to end April – an annualised increase of 8,3 percent – according to the Residential Property Price Ranger. However, the number of units sold was 2,3 percent down, at 4300, indicating an overall rise in prices and reflecting growth in upmarket areas such as Constantia, Camps Bay and Clifton.
( ©www.mweb.co.za )

Use your imagination before you buy
Try mentally “living” in a home before you buy it, and you’ll avoid much agonising and a potentially very costly mistake. That’s the advice of Dr Piet Botha, chairman of the Nationlink estate agency group, who says potential buyers going through a house, or looking at plans, should try to envisage themselves actually living there.
( ©www.mweb.co.za )

The harmonious appearance rules
Most residential sectional schemes consist of sections built to a higher density than is usually found in freehold areas, and need the visual control that is usually achieved by designing around a particular style and colour theme.
( ©www.mweb.co.za )

Condolences
Our hearts go out to the Director of ASAQS, Mr. Basie Botha who lost immediate family in a recent farm attack. Our thoughts are also with the three young children, who because of the attack, lost both their parents.

Read more about the scourge that has become a threat to the stability of farming communities everywhere:

'Revenge' motive for farm attacks
Johannesburg - Agri SA on Monday said it was convinced that revenge was the obvious motive for the recent farm killings in the country. Grobler said Agri SA would, during its next round of talks with President Thabo Mbeki, insist that drastic measures to prevent farm attacks be implemented. Petros Schoonwinkel, 33, and his wife, Marika, 30, were shot dead at their farm in Diepkloof, Mpumalanga, on Saturday. ( ©www.mweb.co.za )
Agri SA seek action against revenge
In its next round of talks with President Thabo Mbeki, Agri SA will insist that drastic measures to prevent attacks on the farms be implemented ( ©www.bday.co.za )
Zim farmers safer than those in SA
Farmers in South Africa were four times more likely to be murdered than the average citizen, Democratic Alliance MP Andries Botha has said. ( ©www.iafrica.com )

June Madness - more than 50% off JBCC software
This offer will never be repeated! Just click on the link below to make use of it today! Series 2000 is the electronic solution for the preparation of JBCC payment certificates, advice statements, N/S subcontractor notifications and recovery statements. Developed under license to the JBCC, the package has specifically been tailored to suit the needs of the principal agent, quantity surveyor and contractor. Full management of the Contract Sum and Contract Value, as well as the Provisional Sums, Prime Costs, CPAP and JBCC Preliminaries. Click here - use the order form and get the JBCC Series 2000 Major works software for just R450,00!!! This month only. This software is listed at R995.00 less 10% but orders received through the ASAQS website will receive an additional discount during June.

Interupting Interuptions.
A lot of our daily responsibilities require us to deal with interruptions, unanticipated events. These are not the problem. It is the unwanted, unnecessary interruptions that keep us from focusing on what really needs to get done.
( ©www.projectmagazine.com )

The New View
The ASAQS offices in Midrand will be the scene of frantic activity on Tuesday when an information video will be made called the "New View". The fully interactive presentation will be distributed to all members of ASAQS on CD before the end of June. The presentation will inform members on the strategy that will drive ASAQS into the future.

New members to the CUG
We wish to welcome the following new member to the CUG:

Nontyatyambo Dazana
Andrie Prinsloo
Martin Meinesz
Fanie du Plessis
George Mellet
Desmond Berkowitz
Hermann Gericke

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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