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PROPERTY
DEVELOPMENT, ENGINEERING AND CONSTRUCTION
Team
SA approach adopted to grow consulting engineering exports
The South African Association of Consulting Engineers (Saace) has
changed its strategy to stimulate the export of professional consulting
engineering services.
(©www.engineeringnews.co.za)
Mozal
voted project of the year
Award gives smelter global recognition Industrial Editor MURRAY
& Roberts' joint venture construction of the massive Mozal aluminium
smelter in Mozambique has gained international recognition by being
voted the 2001 Project of the Year.
(©www.bday.co.za)
M&R
urges SA to scrap controls
MURRAY & Roberts chairman Dave Brink called on government yesterday
to scrap all remaining exchange controls to demonstrate to potential
foreign investors that SA had faith in its economy.
(©www.bday.co.za)
More
petchem projects on the cards
Petrochemical and synthetic fuels giant Sasol is investigating projects
at its plant at Secunda, in Mpumalanga, with a similar capital cost
to the pipeline project to bring natural gas from Mozambique, said
to be in the region of R10-billion.
(©www.engineeringnews.co.za)
Group
Five crosses Limpopo in search of growth
CONSTRUCTION company Group Five expected to earn two-thirds of its
revenue outside SA within the next five years, CE Mike Lomas said
yesterday. Lomas said that about 28% of Group Five's business was
now generated outside SA. However, he expected substantial growth
in other parts of Africa during the next few years.
(©www.bday.co.za)
Cost
cutting at PPC reaps extra dividend
BARLOWORLD cement subsidiary Pretoria Portland Cement (PPC) announced
a special R5 dividend to shareholders yesterday following results
for the year to September that were well above analysts' expectations.
(©www.bday.co.za)
Ceramic
puts Italian joint venture on the shelve
Johannesburg - Ceramic Industries, the ceramic tile and sanitaryware
manufacturer, had postponed the construction of a factory in northern
Italy by six months because of the uncertain economic climate in
Europe, according to Nick Booth, the chief executive of Ceramic.
(©www.busrep.co.za)
Cash-flush,
but unable to spend
THE SA flag might as well fly at half-mast when it comes to capital
spending by government. An amount of R8,5bn is earning interest
in some bank account because provinces and local government lack
capacity to spend on capital projects.
Finance Minister Trevor Manuel delivered this piece of news at the
National Council of Provinces two weeks ago. Only when spending
increased would national government be in a position to increase
its allocations, he said.
As if that was not enough, figures in a report published by national
treasury from data received from provinces show that, from April
to September, they have spent only R3bn of their combined R10bn
capital budget.
SA, it would seem, does not have a money problem. The trouble is
with public sector managers unable to deliver services to the poor.
This also extends to political heads who fail to hold them accountable.
(©www.bday.co.za)
Provinces
to get new tax law
THE National Council of Provinces' finance committee approved draft
legislation yesterday, empowering provinces to impose taxes and
duties.
(©www.bday.co.za)
Negotiation
is name of the game
FRUSTRATED in your search for A-grade Johannesburg office space?
Drive from the intersection of Corlett Drive and Oxford Road, down
Bompas, right into Jan Smuts and right again into William Nicol,
out to the concrete highway, turn right then right again onto the
M1 and, finally right again into Corlett and back where you started
from. In that "square" there are 300000m² of unoccupied
office space, about one third of the total available.
(©www.bday.co.za)
Above-average
return from property division
OVER the years Metropolitan Properties has developed and acquired
a mix of commercial, industrial and retail properties throughout
southern Africa, valued at about R2bn, which have generated above-average
returns.
(©www.bday.co.za)
Survey
fleshes out perception of Cape
CAPE TOWN Capetonians believe Table Mountain and the beaches are
the city's best attributes, and that visitors should pay entry fees
to visit protected environmental areas.
(©www.bday.co.za)
UK
high commission sues
CAPE TOWN The British high commission is suing Cape Group Construction
for R9m for its role in the fire that gutted the high commissioner's
residence in Bishopscourt two years ago.
(©www.bday.co.za)
Mvelaphanda
moves into development
TOKYO Sexwale's investment company, Mvelaphanda Holdings, is taking
its first step into property development with Tyger Falls, a R500m
multiuse development in Tyger Valley, Cape Town.
(©www.bday.co.za)
SA
Retail set to boost fund to R1bn after its JSE listing
DURBAN Property loan stock company SA Retail Properties, which lists
on the JSE Securities Exchange SA (JSE) next week, is expected to
increase the value of its portfolio by 25% to R1bn soon after listing,
fund manager Peter Sparks said yesterday.
The properties in the portfolio have been bought from Sanlam and
three other groups for cash and units in SA Retail Properties. A
private placement of units has raised R122m, of which R93m has been
paid to the sellers of the properties.
(©www.bday.co.za)
R700m
Knysna development on schedule
Cape Town - The R700 million Thesen Island residential development
in Knysna was proceeding to schedule despite criticism in the past
from environmental groups.
By the end of the week, 250 erven of land would have been approved
for development by the town council, Chris Mulder, the managing
director of Thesen Island Development Company, said yesterday.
(©www.busrep.co.za)
Richards
Bay Coal Terminal expedites R600m growth
Durban - Richards Bay Coal Terminal, the largest coal export terminal
in the world, would "imminently" give the green light
for construction of its R600 million expansion to kick off in January,
Nigel Stevens, the general manager, said yesterday.
(©www.busrep.co.za)
Does
S Africa need a 'power exchange' by 2003?
Much attention has been paid over the last months and years to the
many possible ownership permutations that could arise as a result
of the restructuring of the South African electricity industry,
and in particular to the future of State-owned utility Eskom.
(©www.busrep.co.za)
Gensec
to split property service in line with worldwide trends
Pretoria - Gensec Property Services would be split into two companies
- a property asset management and property management company -
Banus van der Walt, the managing director, said yesterday.
Gensec Property Services was established in 1999 prior to the demutualisation
of Sanlam to handle the assurance company's property interests.
(©www.busrep.co.za)
SA
steel may be better off under US quota system
South Africa’s largest steel producer, Iscor, believes that
the country could be better off under a possible steel-import ‘equitable
quota’ than it is at present with the industry continually
having to defend itself against of anti-dumping applications.
(©www.busrep.co.za)
NEWS
FROM AFRICA
Swiss
bidder for $428m Senegal airport
Swiss engineering group ABB said it was bidding to build a new $428-
million international airport in Senegal.
(©www.engineeringnews.co.za)
Saudi's
set up new energy holding company
Saudi Arabia stated that a new energy services holding company to
provide a platform for further private and foreign investment in
the kingdom’s multibillion-dollar gas development initiative
could be up and running in December.
(©www.engineeringnews.co.za)
Oppenheimer's
farms are occupied 'by agreement'
Johannesburg - EO & Son, the managers of the Oppenheimer Family
property portfolio, denied yesterday that Oppenheimer-owned farms
had been seized in Zimbabwe.Clifford Elphick, the spokesperson for
EO & Son and director of companies at Anglo American, said the
farm occupations were in line with an initiative proposed by Nicky
Oppenheimer last year.
(©www.busrep.co.za)
HOUSING
NEWS AND LAND ISSUES
New
law a timebomb for ST owners
A potentially chaotic situation faces the sectional title (ST) market
in Gauteng next March, the start date for new legislation that will
make it impossible for ST owners to sell their units unless their
body corporate is up to date with all municipal accounts.
(©www.property24.co.za)
MINING
NEWS
Gallery
Gold confident of 2003 pour
Gaborone - Gallery Gold, which is proposing to develop Botswana's
first major gold mine, has announced satisfactory progress of its
drilling and evaluation programme and said an economic scoping study
would be completed during December.
(©www.busrep.co.za)
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