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PROPERTY
DEVELOPMENT, ENGINEERING AND CONSTRUCTION
The
past and future for real estate
Property, or real estate, is generally considered a "boring"
asset class involving buildings, such as homes and offices. In fact,
it includes diverse assets ranging from industrial parks and distribution
centres to health clubs, resorts and pubs. The definition covers
not only bricks-and-mortar but also private property operating companies
that manage or service property as well as public investment vehicles,
private property debt and public property debt securities. The value
of the global commercial property market amounts to an estimated
$4000bn, making it the largest asset class.
(©www.bday.co.za)
Johannesburg
aims to restore Egoli glitter to living, playing and investing
Johannesburg's inner city is getting a face-lift. The metamorphosis
is slowly becoming visible as changes to infrastructure - from walkways
to the careful restoration of historical buildings - boost the inner
city's popularity and reclaim that famed Egoli glitter.
(©www.busrep.co.za)
Group
Five unit awarded R18m upcountry project
Group Five Building (South), the business unit of
listed construction and contracting firm Group Five which services
the western and southern Cape, has negotiated an R18 million extension
to the Shoprite/ Checkers warehouse in Centurion, near Pretoria.
(©www.busrep.co.za)
Marriott
investment vehicle will focus on property
Property will play a key role in the newly launched Marriott Income
Solution, a monthly income investment vehicle created by Marriott
Asset Management. Property as an investment asset class in SA has
traditionally been given no role in investment portfolios. But strong
returns on property listed property vehicles in particular in the
past few years, and its investment fundamentals suggest property
could play a stabilising role in general investment portfolios.
(©www.bday.co.za)
R360m
for tourism project
Staff Reporter THE department of trade and industry has announced
a R360m investment incentive package for its pilot project aimed
at generating economic growth through tourism as part of the Lubombo
Spatial Development Initiative in KwaZulu-Natal....
(©www.bday.co.za)
Tourism
not the only iTrump card in Durban's R67m regeneration hand
It is eight in the morning and Warwick Junction in Durban is abuzz
with activity as masses of people rush to catch taxis, buses or
trains....
(©www.busrep.co.za)
Mall
raises locals' concern
Plettengerg Bay is getting a new 13000m² retail development,
undertaken by Primeview Properties, a wholly owned subsidiary of
Globus Investments. While it is expected to address congestion in
the popular Eastern Cape tourist destination during holiday periods,
the development, to be known as Market Square, has raised locals'
hackles. Concern has been expressed about whether its aesthetics
will blend with the nature of the town.
(©www.bday.co.za)
The
cost of Coega
Leaving aside the occasional allegation of corruption
against one or more of the companies involved in developing the
port and industrial area of Coega near Port Elizabeth, new estimates
of just how much this project is going to cost serve only to deepen
our opposition to it.
(©www.bday.co.za)
Empowerment
may sugar SA steel restructuring
In the run-up to the historic unbundling of Iscor
the parastatal has been the centre of a flurry of wheeling and dealing.
Do not be too surprised if a new empowerment player emerges in the
restructuring of the SA steel industry. There has been a flurry
of wheeling and dealing for about a year now, with former parastatal
Iscor the centre of activity. This time next month there will be
a historic gathering of Iscor shareholders to vote on a plan to
unbundle the steel and mining group into separately listed steel
and mining divisions.
(©www.bday.co.za)
Local
firms awarded R47m Mossgas subcontracts
Cape Town - Mossgas and Foster Wheeler SA had awarded subcontracts
to the value of R47 million for civil works, storage tanks and an
undersea pipeline for Mossgas's new R135 million low-aromatic distillate
plant at Mossel Bay, Harry Hill, a spokesperson for the gas-to-oil
parastatal, said yesterday.
(©www.busrep.co.za)
Natural
gas exploration plans taking shape
The developments may have a dramatic effect on the role of the state,
energy costs and pollution IT HAS been known for decades that southern
African has mineral wealth that includes natural gas reserves, but
political problems have held back the exploration...
(©www.bday.co.za)
R2,2bn
grant for water projects
The Eastern Cape, KwaZulu-Natal and the Northern Province are set
to benefit from a R2,2-billion grant for the improvement of water
services over the next three years, reports Bua News. Water affairs
minister Ronnie Kasrils announced this after his visit to the Eastern
Cape during President Thabo Mbeki’s Imbizo programme over the
weekend. Minister Kasrils said ambassadors from the European Union
(EU) who were with him at the launch of the Umzimvubu Water Scheme
at Port St Johns on Saturday, had contributed R600-million to the
department’s R1,7-billion to improve water services to 2,5-million
people in the provinces.
(©www.engineeringnews.co.za)
Call
on investment to participate in SA's first heritage site
Lucia Release Call on investor’s to participate on SA’s
first heritage site International and local investors have been
scuba diving, going on safari, whale watching and exploring the
cultural riches of Maputaland as the Greater St Lucia Wetland Park
Authority in KwaZulu-Natal pulls out all the stops to mobilise millions
of Rands in investment.
(©www.engineeringnews.co.za)
Electrical
industy faces skills crisis
The greatest challenge facing the engineering industry today is
the shortage of skilled workers.
"We have a shrinking industry, declining apprenticeships, and
the new learnership system is not yet in place," explains Steel
and Engineering Industries Federation of South Africa (Seifsa) Skills
Development Services Head Janet Lopes.
(©www.engineeringnews.co.za)
Lift
inspectors given ownership
Travelling in a South African lift will become safer in future with
lift inspectors registered by the Engineering Council of South Africa
in a specified category in its own right under the Engineering Profession
Act of last year.
While lift inspectors have been able to register as engineering
technicians with the council since 1994, the Act makes provision
for the recognition of specified categories, including lift inspectors,
explains acting CEO Paul Roux.
(©www.engineeringnews.co.za)
Capital
projects stimulates pump sector
What factors contribute towards the present vibrancy in the industry?
So far this year, the market has generally been good for the local
pump manufacturers, particularly due to new mining projects. Does
the association have statistics that depict growth rate, exports,
and earnings? Collection of stastisics by the association on a regular
basis has proved to be impractical, as pump sales are conducted
by individual companies which are in competition with each other.
(©www.engineeringnews.co.za)
Bolt
production more than doubles
Almost 18 months have passed since the successful merger of CBC
Fasteners of the West Rand and National Bolts (Natbolt) of the East
Rand – a joining that many believe saved the latter from imminent
financial disaster and helped to consolidate the industry as a whole.
The merger, which was facilitated against the background of a growing
mining industry and the increasing free flow of imports from the
East, proved to be a solid business decision.
(©www.engineeringnews.co.za)
Dumping
cases dropped against SA steel
South African steel producer Iscor has successfully defended itself
against anti-dumping charges in both the United States and Canada.
Corporate affairs executive Phaldie Kalam says the findings support
the company’s contention that it is a responsible exporter
and that it has not been causing injury in foreign markets".
Iscor was cited on three occasions in Canada relating to exports
from its Vanderbijlpark steel plant.
(©www.engineeringnews.co.za)
Hillside
smelter strike looms
The National Union of Metalworkers of South Africa (Numsa) said
its members would embark on solidarity industrial action at BHP
Billiton’s Bayside and Hillside aluminium smelters from Thursday.
The action, aimed at supporting workers currently on strike at BHP
Billiton’s Samancor ferrochrome plants, would initially take
the form of a go-slow, said Numsa spokesperson Dumisa Ntuli.
(©www.engineeringnews.co.za)
Consulting
confidence on the rise
The consulting engineering industry has performed better than expected
in the first six months of this year, with fee income rising and
the confidence index up. However, burning issues remain which can
have a negative effect on an industry still under pressure. The
latest management information (MIS) survey from the South African
Association of Consulting Engineers (Saace), in which conflicting
trends have emerged, shows that although more members are feeling
less pessimistic regarding future and current trends, their expectations
are not entirely being met.
(©www.engineeringnews.co.za)
US
ends probe on SA steel sheets
A US trade panel ended a probe into the dumping of cold-rolled sheets
at unfairly traded prices against three countries – Egypt,
South Africa and Venezuela – because they said imports from
these countries were negligible.
(©www.engineeringnews.co.za)
Steel
tie-up talks still on despite expired exclusivity
UK-based LNM Holdings said it was still interested in acquiring
a stake in Iscor even though its exclusivity period for negotiations
with the South African group expired on Monday. LNM, one of the
world’s top steel producers, said it was in the final stages
of deciding on the feasibility study it had concluded on the South
African steel operations.
(©www.engineeringnews.co.za)
NEWS
FROM AFRICA
Mugabe
accuses UK of 'sabotage'
Harare - Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe accused Britain on Monday
of deliberately sabotaging his nation's economy through undeclared
sanctions.
(©www.iol.co.za)
Mugabe
ditches IMF agreements 'to revive economy'
Harare - Zimbabwe would abandon the economic reforms it negotiated
in 1991 with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and was deciding
on alternative policies, the Herald newspaper said yesterday.
(©www.busrep.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)
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
Batepro
eyes new copper site in Siberia
Group to determine feasibility of mine. SA mining consultant Bateman
Project Holdings is evaluating one of the world's largest unmined
copper deposits to determine whether a mining project there is feasible.
Officials of the Urals Mining and Metallurgical Company said they
had contracted Bateman to study the Udokan copper deposit in a remote
corner of the Cita region in southeastern Siberia.
(©www.bday.co.za)
Khumo
group has big plans for Free State
Hot contest for AngloGold's mines is likely. Securing AngloGold's
Free State mines would be the first step in a three-pronged strategy
which Paseka Ncholo, head of the Khumo mining consortium, sees as
unlocking the value of the region's gold assets and facilitating
viable mining in the province for another 20 years.
(©www.bday.co.za)
Challenge
to Harmony bid for Free State mines
A consortium led by mining executives Paseka Ncholo and Brett Kebble
has confirmed rumours that it is challenging a Harmony-led bid for
AngloGold's Free State assets. Kebble, who headed Western Areas
and Consolidated African Mining in the JCI Gold group, was linked
last week to a possible counter bid.
(©www.bday.co.za)
Fortunes
look set to turn for SA gold miners
SA's gold companies are lining up to report quarterly earnings over
the next few weeks with the country's fourth-largest producer, Durban
Roodepoort Deep, kicking off proceedings today. The marginal miner
said last month that after a good deal of restructuring, its fortunes
were turning and it expected to report positive earnings for the
first quarter of its financial year.
(©www.bday.co.za)
BHP
Billiton braces for tough global conditions
Sustained downturn could bring opportunities. The world's largest
diversified mining company, BHP Billiton, said yesterday it was
bracing for the pressure created by a tough global economic climate,
but believed it would be able to ride out any rough weather. The
attacks in the US last month have weighed on an already subdued
world economy, sparking concern over metals demand, but BHP Billiton
assured shareholders at its first annual meeting as a merged group
it could weather the storm.
(©www.bday.co.za)
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Did
you see?
In
Western culture, the dove is considered the bird of peace. But
in African lore, it is the lilac-breasted roller