PROPERTY DEVELOPMENT, ENGINEERING AND CONSTRUCTION

SOUTH AFRICAN NEWS

Foreigners eye leisure sector
Recent transactions show interest in the local hospitality property market. Forget office, retail and industrial property for a moment: there are also good investment opportunities in SA's hospitality and leisure property market. Take it from the foreigners who seem to have spotted a gap and are snapping up local hospitality and leisure related-property. "The SA tourism industry has huge unrealised potential," says Pam Golding Properties Gauteng MD Ronald Ennik.
(©www.bday.co.za)

African Life reduces its exposure to property
Due to increased vacancies, group trims portfolio by selling property worth R480m to executives of subsidiary. Rising vacancies in office property in the northern suburbs of Johannesburg have spooked insurance group African Life into reducing its exposure to property by more than 70%. The group announced the sale of properties worth R480m to the executive management of its subsidiary African Life Properties (Afprop) yesterday. The buyers have formed a new company called Equity Estates to house these properties.
(©www.bday.co.za)

Indian billionaire wants Iscor Steel
UK-BASED Indian billionaire and steel magnate Lakshmi Mittal was heading for SA last night, chequebook in hand, to buy a controlling stake in this country's largest steel producer. Mittal heads the LNM Group, the world's fourth-largest steel producer, which could become number two if he succeeds in his round of acquisitions that include Iscor Steel, the company being unbundled next month from listed steel and mining group Iscor.
(©www.bday.co.za)

UK bargains for SA steel
UK-based LNM Group, the world’s number-four steel producer, is in talks to buy a stake in South African steelmaker Iscor, an LNM spokesperson said. Annanya Sarin, a spokesperson for LNM Holdings, a subsidiary of London-based steel tycoon Lakshmi Mittal’s privately-held LNM Group, said Mittal was in South Africa for talks with Iscor, which unveiled plans to split into two divisions in September.
(©www.engineeringnews.co.za)

Picketers at Iscor plant demand job transparency
Johannesburg - The National Union of Metalworkers of SA (Numsa) followed through on its threats to stage a protest against Iscor's unbundling plans, which Numsa believed would lead to the loss of 2 500 jobs. Numsa said it began protests yesterday with 5 000 Iscor workers picketing for five hours outside the company's Vanderbijlpark plant. A similar protest was likely to be staged in Pretoria today, it said.
(©www.busrep.co.za)

Steel output not hurt by protests
South African steel producer Iscor said production at its Vanderbijlpark plant had not been affected by a five-hour stoppage by workers protesting its plans to split into two divisions. Iscor plans to divide and list its mining and steel divisions separately on November 19 if approval is won at a shareholder meeting on November 5 – a process workers say will result in some 2 500 job cuts
(©www.engineeringnews.co.za)

State financier in R6bn African project Safari
The Industrial Development Corporation (IDC) has since 1996 pumped nearly R6-billion into a wide range of projects north of the Limpopo, underscoring its belief that Africa is a worthwhile investment destination. “IDC’s involvement in Africa includes 37 projects in 13 countries,” says Loyiso Jiya, the chief economist and head of research and information at the development-finance institution. Sixteen of the 37 African projects the IDC has looked at have since been approved, while 18 applications for export finance have either been given the nod or are under consideration. The African projects in which the IDC is involved are in sectors ranging from manufacturing, agro-processing, mining and mineral beneficiation, energy, tourism, information technology, telecommunications and selective franchising.
(©www.engineeringnews.co.za)

R450-million upgrade on the cards at paper mill
Pulp and paper giant Mondi has announced plans to upgrade one of its fine-paper machines, the PM2, and the installation of a multifuel boiler at its Merebank integrated pulp and paper mill located in Durban South. These developments represent an investment of some R450-million in the area and will significantly improve the environment.
(©www.engineeringnews.co.za)

BHP Billiton expects Mozal impasse to be broken on Monday
Johannesburg – BHP Billiton hopes for a break early next week in the impasse at Mozal, the aluminium smelter, when a 10-day suspension period for striking workers comes to an end.
(©www.busrep.co.za)

Turbulence hits King Shaka airport project
Cape Town - Plans to build the new R890 million King Shaka International Airport at La Mercy near Durban needed a rethink in the light of the airlines' lack of interest in the project, parliament's select committee on public services heard yesterday. Carmine Bessetti, the Airports Company of SA (Acsa) executive director of air services, said international carriers did not want to use Durban as a point of entry to the country.
(©www.busrep.co.za)

Gearing lift for property investments
The property market is set for an investment explosion to follow the new Collective Investment Schemes (CIS) Bill lifting the ban on gearing by the R5,4 billion property unit trust (PUT) sector. David Green, Marriott Property Services' director, said yesterday that the CIS was due to be tabled in parliament early next year. The Financial Services Board has approved a proposal by the Association of Unit Trusts to use the 30 percent gearing facility, subject to unit holder approval.
(©www.busrep.co.za)

BHP Billiton holds back on sweetener
Johannesburg - The Western Australian government has promised BHP Billiton, the dual-listed Australian and London resources giant, that it would spend A$18,4 million (about R86,5 million) on the infrastructure required to develop its proposed A$945 million Ravensthorpe nickel project. The offer, which would see the government of that region spend capital on roads, houses and an airport over four years, was made in an effort to persuade BHP Billiton to go ahead with the mine in the face of a falling nickel price.
(©www.busrep.co.za)

Wise spending the key to a better life
Turning sound financial management into tangible development that creates a better life for South Africans is the key challenge facing the country's nine provincial governments.
(©www.iol.co.za)

Students saved from Joburg inferno
Prompt action by police and firefighters averted tragedy in the Johannesburg city centre on Tuesday when a raging fire consumed Pan Africa House, a seven-storey downtown building housing two private colleges.
(©www.iol.co.za)

ApexHi buys R136m realty off Compass
Pretoria - ApexHi Properties, the listed property loan stock company, had completed the acquisition of seven properties from Compass Property Holdings, the listed real estate company, for R136 million, said Deon Feinblum, ApexHi's marketing manager, yesterday.
(©www.busrep.co.za)

Coega developer says breakthroughs are imminent
Port Elizabeth - Despite a hail of protests from environmental groups and political parties, plans for the industrial development site at Coega are gathering pace. Construction on the multimillion-rand port could begin as soon as March next year, the Coega Development Corporation (CDC) said this week.
(©www.busrep.co.za)

LeisureNet bosses received 'secret offshore payments'
Cape Town - LeisureNet joint chief executives Peter Gardener and Rod Mitchell benefited from a DM10 million (R40,4 million) deal in which LeisureNet bought its German fitness company, Joubert Rabie, a former LeisureNet director, told a commission of inquiry yesterday.
(©www.busrep.co.za)

NEWS FROM AFRICA

Mozal fires striking workers
A total 468 Mozambican strikers at the Mozal aluminium smelting plant, the nation's largest company, have been sacked and given 10 days to appeal, Mozal announced Monday said yesterday. In an advertisement published in the state daily Noticias, the multinational said the strike was illegal.
(©www.bday.co.za)

Russians to invest in Sudan
Russian-Belarus oil firm Slavneft said it would invest $126-million in developing an oilfield in Sudan once it has signed a production-sharing agreement with the Sudanese government in January 2002. A Slavneft statement quoted CEO Mikhail Gutzeriev as saying the company was ready to start working on the ninth oil and gas block in central Sudan in February to March 2002.
(©www.engineeringnews.co.za)

R250m hotel one of the biggest in Africa
A former Saudi oil minister, Sheikh Yamani, is to build one of Africa’s biggest hotels in Accra. The $250-million project, when completed, would offer great job opportunities for Ghanaians and enhance the city’s landscape. The current location of the Accra Turf Club’s racecourse is the site for the magnificent hotel, reports the Accra Mail.
(©www.engineeringnews.co.za)

Putting Maputo on the world tourism map is proving a charming challenge
Last week I went to Maputo, exactly a year after my previous trip to the city. This time I was hosted by Southern Sun, which opened its first Holiday Inn in Mozambique in June. Despite being there for just 24 hours, it gave me an opportunity to reflect on a number of things about Mozambique I have observed in the years I have been visiting a country I regard as my second home.
(©www.busrep.co.za)

Zambia's Konkola deep mine project deferred
Johannesburg - Zambia Copper Investments Ltd (ZCI) said on Friday the start of the Konkola Deep Mining Project had been deferred due to difficult market conditions and a lack of financing for the project.
(©www.busrep.co.za)

HOUSING NEWS AND LAND ISSUES

The provision of low-cost housing continues to be slowed down by poor capacity
The provision of low-cost housing continues to be slowed down by poor capacity, lack of finance and inadequate planning, according to the review.intergovernmental fiscal annual review done conducted by the national treasury. It shows hundreds of millions of rands allocated for housing being rolled over from one year to the other, because they were not spent, while up to 7-million people remain homeless.
(©www.bday.co.za)

Pooling of resources turns scrub into modern suburb
Decent roads, services and proper houses for 700 families. Making something from nothing is the ultimate achievement in building productive capacity. The Ocean View Development Trust took a tract of bushy land and people with low morale and few skills and played a major role in turning it into a suburb with good permanent homes and roads.
(©www.bday.co.za)

MINING NEWS

Anglo sales bring hope for Free State mining
The much needed restructuring of the Free State's gold mining assets may have taken a step forward with the sale of AngloGold's Tshepong, Bambanani and Matjhabeng mines to Harmony Gold and mining empowerment company African Rainbow Minerals (ARM) for just more than R2bn in cash.
(©www.bday.co.za)

Steel consolidation some way off
While the resolution of the stalemate between mining and steel company Iscor and the Industrial Development Corporation (IDC) regarding the unbundling of the former may have raised hopes that the way has been paved for the consolidation of South Africa’s steel industry, observers caution that no deals are likely to be cut for at least a year.
(©www.engineeringnews.co.za)

Implats may double size of mine to grow output
Steelpoort - Impala Platinum (Implats) Holdings, the second-biggest platinum producer, said it might double the size of its Winnaarshoek mine in the Northern Province by 2005 under a larger plan to expand production. Implats had planned to mine 170 000 ounces of platinum a year by 2004 at Winnaarshoek.
(©www.busrep.co.za)

AngloGold to clarify Free State position
New offer reportedly not a big improvement. Details of the sale of AngloGold's assets in Free State could emerge as soon as next week. Analysts say the gold producer will be seeking to clarify its position on an offer for its four Free State mines ahead of presenting its bid proposal for its slated takeover of Australia's Normandy.
(©www.bday.co.za)

Local market likely to maintain upward momentum
The local residential property market is resilient enough to maintain an upward swing despite the likelihood of economic turbulence in the wake of the US terror attacks. Responding to concern that the upswing which resumed in 1998 after two decades of negative growth could be cut short, major players in the residential property market say it will survive the turbulence.
(©www.bday.co.za)

Property becoming a viable investment option again
Lower interest rates together with higher capitalisation rates (a proxy for the income return on property) are making non-residential property a viable investment option for the private investor again. Interest rates have come down substantially over the last two years and are almost at levels that make positive gearing possible in the first year of an investment. This is something that was last experienced in the early seventies. Positive gearing occurs when the income the investor receives on an investment like property is greater than the interest and other costs he/she pays to own it. This initial positive gearing seems to be true not only for the acquisition of existing properties, but also for the development of new buildings in good locations.
(©www.moneymax.co.za)

What’s in that title deed?
Time spent checking every detail of the title deed to a new property is never wasted. But too many enthusiastic buyers, anxious to seal the deal on their perfect new home, neglect this basic precaution. “The first thing to look for,” says Berry Everitt, MD of the ERA Chas Everitt estate agency group, “are restrictive conditions of title that could prevent a new owner from using the property in the way he or she envisages. 'The new buyer may plan, for example, to offset the cost of the property by sub-dividing and selling part of the land, only to find that the title deed contains a clause prohibiting sub-division. Other clauses may prohibit any further building on the property, or set down certain standards or styles for any additions.”
(©www.property24.co.za)

15 Jo’burg suburbs in R1m bracket
Almost 20 000 properties in the Greater Johannesburg metropolitan area changed hands during the six months to end-August, with single-family and sectional title homes in the area accounting for more R320-million worth of sales. And, according to the latest Property Price Index (GPPI) compiled by Lew Geffen Estates / Sotheby’s International Realty, the average home price reached R1-million or more in 15 suburbs within the metropolis during the period - and topped R2-million in seven of these.The “most expensive” list includes eight suburbs in Johannesburg, six in Sandton and one in Randburg. It also, notes agency principal Lew Geffen, demonstrates the continued attraction of older, established suburbs for the wealthiest buyers.
(©www.property24.co.za)

"Public Musings on Acoustical Privacy"
In offices, it’s not only what you hear but what you don’t hear that matters.
(©www.archrecord.com)

Is this the future?
Saves money, saves time and saves the planet? The claimed advantages of Foamed Bitumen in road re-construction seem too good to be true.
(©www.internationalconstruction.com)

Contracting in a host country Sounds simple — but isn't.
Contracting in a foreign country is technically and financially challenging. John Tieder, Jr. explains that sucess is dependent on close attetion to detail.
(©www.internationalconstruction.com)

Partnering
There are a number of project arrangements which reduce conflict. One is target cost reimbursable forms of contract. The experience of target cost reimbursable forms of contract has been that they create cooperation through the identification of common goals. The removal from the construction process of one of the most contentious aspects, the price, allows the Employer`s representatives to adopt value engineering and the quality benefits that this allows. The result is a working environment which the participants enjoy, with reduced disputes. Click here to read more...

The new Client/QS agreement
The Client/QS agreement (2001 edition) has been added to the documents within the CUG. Click here to download your copy today.

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:

There have been a number of applications which will be processed soon.

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.