V&A success opens doors abroad
Promising prospects for SA to export engineering expertise into Africa and beyond. The success of Cape Town's Victoria & Alfred Waterfront development, coupled with the rand's weakness against the dollar, has opened the way for the export of SA engineering expertise to the rest of the continent and beyond.
(©www.bday.co.za )

Aveng expects big Mozal contracts
AVENG, a listed construction group, was expecting to secure contracts worth hundreds of millions of rands from the Mozal II development in Mozambique, CE Carl Grim said yesterday.
(©www.bday.co.za )

Capital needs to tap into tourism potential
Pretoria has all the resources to become a world-class city, says Tshwane's metropolitan council mayor. Father Smangaliso Mkhatshwa, the mayor of Tshwane metropolitan council, boasts that the city is the only place where tourists can learn about the history of SA from both sides of the political spectrum.
(©www.bday.co.za )

Agricultural area ripe for investment
A MASTER plan for the development of the Makhathini Flats will be in place by the end of July, KwaZulu-Natal agriculture and environmental affairs MEC Narend Singh said at the weekend
(©www.bday.co.za )

First colliery strike in 14 years possible as talks fail
AN 11th-hour bid to resolve the wage dispute between coal mines and the National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) failed last night, opening the way for the first major strike in the industry in 14 years.
(©www.bday.co.za )

Depressed metals may hamper JSE
US markets staged a rebound on Tuesday after a batch of mixed earnings reports from blue-chip companies. The Dow Jones induxtrial average and the S&P500 ended 1% heigher, while the Nasdaq composite index rose nearly 2%. In Asia, the Hang Seng was fractionally lower and the Nikkei was also down 1.8%.
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Numsa threatens strike in key sectors
The metalworkers' union has declared disputes with vehicle manufacturers and Eskom, and is close to declaring disputes in the tyre and motor retail industries
(©www.bday.co.za )

Steelmaker spending R700m to clean air and water
Over the next decade, steel producer Iscor Flat Steel Products (Iscor FSP) intends investing some R700-million in rendering its 2 300 ha Vanderbijlpark works, in Gauteng, and the surrounding environment more environment-friendly, reports GM Willem Coertzen.
(©www.engineeringnews.co.za )

Rescue arrives for Hyundai Petrochemical
SEOUL Creditors of Hyundai Petrochemical triggered a 622,1-billion won (477m) rescue yesterday just days before the company is to shut its plant due, it said, to a lack of cash. The board of its key shareholder, Hyundai Engineering & Construction, agreed to join the rescue plan by writing off its 11,65% stake, providing the spark needed to put the plan into action.
(©www.bday.co.za )

Sasol signs deal for $800m Qatar plant
CAPE TOWN Sasol has signed a joint venture agreement with Qatar Petroleum for the $800m gasto-liquids plant planned for Qatar's Ras Laffan industrial city. Sasol executive director Patrick Davies said the setting up of several gas-to-liquids businesses based on the group's slurry phase distillate technology was seen as a key driver of growth.
(©www.bday.co.za )

Cabinet approves electricity blueprint
Cabinet has approved the restructuring of the fragmented electricity distribution industry, which will be consolidated into six State-owned regional electricity distributors, or Reds, between January 2002 and December 2003.
(©www.engineeringnews.co.za )

Poor upkeep blamed for square collapse
The collapse of Strijdom Square, in Pretoria can most probably be attributed to a lack of maintenance on the structure, says Gauteng transport and public works department Jack Van der Merwe.
(©www.engineeringnews.co.za )

New test-track operational by August
Motor corporation Volkswagen South Africa’s (VWSA’s) R4,8-million three-kilometre test track, on a 90 ha site next to its Uitenhage assembly plant, will be operational in August.
(©www.engineeringnews.co.za )

Is Cape Town going directly to top place?
CAPE TOWN Take a good look at an old SA version of Hasbro's Monopoly board. The game created by American Charles Darrow during the great depression of the 1930s has become synonymous with city development and property prices.
(©www.bday.co.za )

Richway set to revamp centres
Northgate, Brooklyn, Walmer Park to be extended RICHWAY Retail Properties is undertaking a multimillion-rand extension of three major shopping centres. These are Northgate Shopping Centre in Johannesburg, Brooklyn Mall in Pretoria and the Walmer Park Shopping complex in Port Elizabeth. The R66m extension of Northgate in the developing area of Northriding, north of Johannesburg, will add 12236m² to the centre, with another 1451m² being upgraded.
(©www.bday.co.za )

Cottages and family homes moving fastest
RESIDENTIAL property in the southern suburbs of Cape Town is selling relatively fast due to limited stock being available, according to Durr Estates International's southern suburbs office director, Geoffrey Allison.
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Retailers weigh up their property portfolios
THREE retailing groups are rumoured to be selling their substantial property portfolios as the tide of sentiment turns firmly in favour of retailers leasing rather than owning premises. Peter Blankenberg, the MD of Richway Retail Properties, said recently that a number of retailers had tried property ownership in the past, but it tended to be a cyclical phenomenon.
( ©www.bday.co.za )

Durbanville project on track
HNS Building Group is bringing a R27m residential property development on 2ha in the upmarket area of Vygeboom in Durbanville, Western Cape, to market. Durr Estates International has been awarded the sole marketing mandate for the development of Vygeboom Estate, which has 11 single residential erven, five luxury units in a secure village and the existing three-storey, 1600m² Manor House, which is to be renovated.
( ©www.bday.co.za )

The real land crisis
THE Kempton Park land invasions have turned the spotlight on a gaping hole in state policy how to cater for desperately poor urban people whose priority is not formal housing, but a plot of land on which to erect a basic shelter.
( ©www.bday.co.za )

Squatters, PAC to fight eviction
The illegal occupants of land at Bredell near Kempton Park have decided - with the support of the Pan Africanist Congress (PAC) - to remain, despite a Pretoria High Court order allowing the government to evict them if they have not moved within 48 hours.
( ©www.bday.co.za )

PAC-led land invasion indicative of housing crisis
THE PAC's cheap politics (Business Day July 5), in organising a R25 subscription to land invasion on the Reef if viewed from a world perspective rather than a narrow "Zimbabwe tainting us" perspective is yet another flashing red light about the pressures of urbanisation and the need for our housing/transport policy to bring about change.
( ©www.bday.co.za )

Grahamstown sees rise in house prices as buyers run from crime
GRAHAMSTOWN, Eastern Cape's university town, is seeing a general increase of property prices as big-city dwellers run for cover from crime and congestion. The town recently recorded a house sale price of R1,9m, the highest price yet achieved in Grahamstown. "The buyers are here and looking for houses in the R220000-R350000 price range, as well as up to about R1m," says Colleen Rippon of the Pam Golding franchise office that clinched the R1,9m transaction.
(©www.bday.co.za )

Farmer's demise highlights depression in rural markets
CAPE TOWN Yet another fruit farmer's livelihood took a turn for the worse when Watervliet farm near Paarl went under the auctioneer's hammer. The 46ha farm, valued at R12,3m two years ago, fetched just R2,7m. The demise of this one farm highlights the current depression in the rural property market, says Auction Alliance MD Alon Kowen, who facilitated the sale two weeks ago.
(©www.bday.co.za )

How to own your own piece of paradise
Conventional wisdom holds that only the rich can afford property in the bush. But leisure property developer Trevor Jordan is changing this with the launch of the 1 000 ha Raptor's View just outside Hoedspruit, Mpumalanga.
(©www.bday.co.za )

We pay through the nose
Buying and selling homes is expensive business in SA. SA is the most expensive country in the world in which to buy and sell homes. Commissions, transfer duties and legal costs add R6bn each year to SA's R50bn residential property transactions
(©www.fm.co.za )

2 Western Cape development roundup
A whole slew of new developments are currently under way in the Western Cape. They include the following projects marketed by Pam Golding Properties:
(©www.mweb.co.za )

3 Strong demand for Chaka’s Rock project
Prime land with sea views within 200m of a Natal beach is something of a rarity these days – and it is its excellent siting which has prompted such a strong response to Sea Breeze, the new sectional title project at Chakas Rock.
(©www.mweb.co.za )

The Value of Project Management
Continuing with the 3rd part in The Value of Project Management Series
Caveats. This page describes some disclaimers and caveats to keep in mind when using this site.The TenStep Project Management Process is designed to be applicable to all projects, whether you are building a house, a circuit board or a computer application. After all, all projects deal with planning, managing issues, scope, risk, etc.
( ©www.tenstep.com )

Holding court
If 100 contractors were asked, when working out a variation on a fair valuation basis, if overheads should only be included if additional expenditure could be proved, 99 would probably answer ‘no’. However, there is always one member who will choose to swim against the tide. When pricing what used to be called a ‘star rate’, it is almost automatic to add a percentage for overheads/profit to the labour, materials and plant costs.
( ©www.industryclick.com )

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