PROPERTY DEVELOPMENT, ENGINEERING AND CONSTRUCTION

Gautrain is not a solution
The politicians who support the Gautrain project deserve the highest praise for what they are looking for from it (Gautrain can boost economy', February 15). But there is a problem mostly technical in that the solution punted by the officials and railway equipment merchants does not fit the problem. The politicians are relying on the officials for the viability studies, and these are one-sided and out of date in their thinking.
(©www.bday.co.za)

Tracks laid for tender process
The Gauteng transport department has announced that the tender process for the Gautrain Rapid Rail Link Project will begin on Monday. Invitations to pre qualify to tender will appear in national and Gauteng newspapers, and the closing date for those application is April 5. The invitation comes after Gauteng premier Mbhazima Shilowa's said earlier this week the R7bn project, a high-speed rail link between Johannesburg and Pretoria and between Sandton and the Johannesburg International Airport, could go ahead after it passed a feasibility test
(©www.bday.co.za)

Concor posts pretax profit of R8,98m
Construction group, Concor posted a R8,98m pretax profit for the six months to December 31, up from the R1m profit it recorded for the same period a year earlier. The group attributed the increased profit to the restructuring process over the past year and also on the refocusing of its core construction business.
(©www.bday.co.za)

Strong results for SA construction group
One of South Africa’s largest construction companies, Group 5, announced strong results for the six months to December 2001.Revenue improved by 17,5% to R1,95-billion, earnings per share increased 29% to 41,5 cents per share and profit before tax was up 30% to R40,7-million.
(©www.engineeringnews.co.za)

R13m hotel planned
City Lodge Hotels is to develop a R13m, 90-room Road Lodge hotel adjacent to Cape Town International Airport. This follows negotiations between the group and Airports Company of SA (Acsa). City Lodge MD Clifford Ross says building tenders will be awarded within weeks. Construction will begin next month. The hotel, the first at SA's second largest airport, is scheduled to open in September.
(©www.bday.co.za)

Service is the key in a tough climate
Competition is intensifying in the property management arena as the industry moves towards consolidation with the emergence of bigger players and groupings. While investment in property remains an attractive option in a volatile domestic and international economic climate, profitable investment requires active asset management if returns on outlay are to realise their maximum potential, say industry analysts.
(©www.bday.co.za)

Fresh approach to urban living
The concept of new urbanism, hailed as a fresh approach to urban living from both a town planning and architectural perspective, has far-reaching implications from a property management point of view. New urbanism is a town planning approach in which a crucial objective is to create better, healthier and appealing spaces for work and leisure.
(©www.bday.co.za)

Focusing on the cost structure
The trend by institutions and large property owners towards the outsourcing of non-core business functions is demanding new standards of technical skill and service levels from property managers. This in turn is producing new growth opportunities for the property management industry.
(©www.bday.co.za)

Black group buys into Colliers
Financial services group Quyn Holdings has brought a 50% empowerment equity partner into its troubled property services subsidiary, Colliers RMS. The announcement of the half-share sale last week ended year-long speculation about the future of Colliers. Quyn says that it has entered an agreement in which an economic empowerment consortium will acquire a 50% interest in Colliers for R9m in cash. The group has not named the consortium but says it includes leading black businessmen and trade union investment companies.
(©www.bday.co.za)

Man decapitated after scaffolding caves in
One person was killed and three injured when scaffolding used for construction work at the Stormvoel Road off-ramp from the N1 highway in Pretoria collapsed on Tuesday morning.
(©www.iol.co.za)

Jo'burg - no longer just a mining town
The face of Johannesburg as a mining, manufacturing and industrial city is set to change. According to a new plan, called Jo'burg 2030, the city fathers intend to promote the city as an information technology- and service-oriented hub with transport, trade, financial and business services, utilities, tourism, food and beverage, chemicals and professional equipment as the top priorities in the business sector.
(©www.iol.co.za)

US grants $500 000 for plant
The US has made a grant of more than $500000 to a local firm to study the viability for a power plant in Richards Bay that would use discarded coal. US trade chief Robert Zoellick announced the grant to Rainbow Millenium, which is supervising the investigation into the plant, on the final day of his five-day visit to SA. The grant will finance a study by US engineering firm Black & Veatch into the technical, financial, and environmental aspects of the project.
(©www.bday.co.za)

Waterfront project put on fast track
Provincial development finance agency Ithala and local businessman John Wilson entered a joint venture yesterday to fast-track a R21,5m harbour waterfront project and enhance the tourism image of Durban both locally and abroad. Wilson's Wharf on the edge of the harbour closest to Victoria Embankment and incorporating the Charlie Croft restaurant has long been poised for transformation. The area will provide the city with its first niche market waterfront.
(©www.bday.co.za)

Steel group has bullish bourse debut
Paris European steel giant Arcelor climbed as much as 12% over its reference price on its bourse debut yesterday on hopes that it will emerge from the current industry crisis stronger than its founders. The world's biggest steel maker, born of the merger of Usinor, Arbed and Aceralia, opened simultaneously in Paris, Madrid, Brussels and Luxembourg. The reference price of à 13,65 euros was based on Usinor's closing price
(©www.bday.co.za)

Iscor goes ahead with rights issue
Steel group Iscor confirmed yesterday it was proceeding with a R1,67bn rights issue next month and in April and sent the company's share price tumbling by almost 15%. "The rights issue is aimed at reducing Iscor's debt position and, with an envisaged debt-toequity ratio of 20% after the offer, the company will have one of the most robust balance sheets of any steel company worldwide," said Iscor spokesman Phaldie Kalam.
(©www.bday.co.za)

Saldanha's Mulder to retire at month end
Saldanha Steel CE Martiens Mulder announced yesterday his retirement at the end of the month. This follows a successful turnaround of the plant which, until recently, lost R1bn a year. Saldanha became a wholly owned division of Iscor at the end of November, when the steel maker, which already owned half of Saldanha, acquired the remaining 50% of shares from the Industrial Development Corporation.
(©www.bday.co.za)

Hillside will be the largest aluminium smelter in the southern hemisphere
Richards Bay - Synergies between BHP Billiton's $1.2 billion Mozal 2 and Hillside 3 expansions would result in significant cost savings, Rex Niven, the project director for the two aluminium smelter projects, said yesterday. "Lessons have been learnt by appointing the same engineering, procurement and construction management contractor to oversee all the southern African aluminium smelter projects.
(©www.busrep.co.za)

Italians pioneer the innovative use of inacessible gas fields
Paddy fields in Italy's Po valley seem an unlikely place for an oil refinery and an even less likely place to discover cutting-edge technology for the natural gas industry. Yet at a refinery on the outskirts of Sannazzaro de' Burgondi a small town in the Lomellina rice-growing region about 50km southwest of Milan Italian oil and gas group Eni is completing trials of an innovative gas-to-liquids plant.
(©www.bday.co.za)

Mpumalanga wants R300m sports facility
Mpumalanga’s sports, recreation, arts and culture department is meeting various consortia to get a R300-million provincial stadium off the ground. Departmental MEC Siphosezwe Masango said his department was trying to forge partnerships with prestigious consortia that have been involved in the construction of the biggest stadiums in South Africa such as FNB stadium in Johannesburg and King’s Park rugby stadium in Durban.
(©www.engineeringnews.co.za)

SA's energy advantage comes to fore again in $449m aluminium investment
Resources group BHP Billiton has concluded a rand-based tariff agreement with Eskom for the 132 000 t/y half potline to be installed at the Hillside aluminium smelter at Richards Bay, Kwazulu-Natal. Currently, BHP Billiton buys electricity from the national power utility in accordance with a formula which takes into account the prevailing aluminium price on the London Metal Exchange, which is quoted in US dollars.
(©www.engineeringnews.co.za)

Road congestion costs country R1bn/y
Gauteng road users are in for a shake-up as the provincial Department of Public Transport and Public Works is implementing 18 projects in an attempt to ease road congestion. Department planning director Daan Visser says congestion leads to excessive delays and costs, estimated at R1,1-billion a year in lost time and productivity to South Africa. A congestion strategy for the province was developed following a workshop in July last year, involving the top management of the department.
(©www.engineeringnews.co.za)

THE BUILT ENVIRONMENT PROFESSIONS CONVENTION ON SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT 1-3 May 2002 Sandton, South Africa Click here to register

Cut in transfer duties to facilitate property buying
The acquisition of property has been facilitated by a cut in transfer duties, which will cost the fiscus R300m a year. The new rate structure takes effect from March 1. In terms of the tax structure announced by Finance Minister Trevor Manuel in his budget speech, no duty will be paid on properties with a value of less than R100000. A 5% duty will be payable on properties valued at more than R100000 up to a value of R300000, and 8% on those worth more than R300000.
(©www.bday.co.za)

Jo'burg feels power of empowerment
There has been no discernible change in Johannesburg’s residential property market as a result of the home loan interest rate increase a month ago - an unusual response that underscores the success of economic empowerment initiatives. So says leading agency principal Lew Geffen, who notes: “Previously, an interest rate rise of one percent could have been expected to bring about a definite drop in demand. But our records show that there has actually been a 42 percent increase in buyer enquiries in the past month.
(©www.property24.co.za)

Budget will boost home ownership
This year’s Budget will help put more people into their own homes – that’s the consensus of opinion among real estate industry commentators whose first reactions yesterday ranged from mild optimism to absolute delight. Homenet MD David Rogers, for example, describes the Budget as “extremely positive” for the real estate industry because “it not only addresses the issue of housing affordability but embraces measures designed to encourage investment, stimulate growth and - most importantly for us - evoke confidence in the economy, which is a key factor in most home buying decisions”.
(©www.property24.co.za)

Budget positive, says Golding
Dr Andrew Golding, CE of the Pam Golding Property group, says Finance minister Trevor Manuel's budget speech earlier this week has generally been met with favourable comment from most industry sectors – and that the property industry is no different with a number of positive developments being announced.'As was the case last year the budget is underpinned by strong macroeconomic fundamentals and the government needs to be commended for the tight fiscal discipline that has been maintained. The South African economy has shown impressive resilience in the current climate of global economic uncertainty, and the country's fiscal record is the envy of many countries right now.
(©www.property24.co.za)

Spotlight on: Mtunzini
The tiny seaside village of Mtunzini, little-known now to any “outsiders” except ski-boat enthusiasts, is set to become the next development hotspot on the KwaZulu-Natal north coast.In fact, says Cheryl Southgate, who has just opened the satellite office of Homenet Terra Firma in Mtunzini, there is already an upsurge of simplex and holiday flat development, prompted by the shortage of accommodation in Richard’s Bay and Empangeni.
(©www.property24.co.za)

US home construction rises to two-year high
Washington Construction of new homes and apartments in the US rose 6,3% in January to the highest level in almost two years, offering fresh evidence that the housing market is thriving while much of the economy slumps. The commerce department reported yesterday that builders broke ground last month on a bigger-than-expected 1,68-million units, at a seasonally adjusted annual rate. That was the highest level since February 2000 and followed a 2,3% decline in December.
(©www.bday.co.za)

We continue our financial series this week:

UNDERSTANDING BASIC FINANCIAL STATEMENTS
This Tutorial is designed to help the small business owner learn how to use financial statements as a roadmap on their journey to economic Success. Using numbers as navigation aids can steer you in the right direction and help you avoid costly breakdowns.
Part 2 - Financial Ratios and Quality Indicators
(©www.onlinewbc.gov)

We also start a new series on MsProject 2000 this week:
If you are ever responsible for coordinating a variety of specific tasks that must be completed within a specific timeframe for a set amount of money, you are a project manager,then this tutorial is for you.
Lesson 1 - Tasks, Links and Constraints
(©www..stylusinc.net)

Click here to purchase one of the remaining copies of MsProject 2000 from the ASAQS Webshop at half price! Quantity surveyors should be capable of contoling project duration as part of their cost control service - an impossible task without a program such as MsProject.

Facilities Management
The Gauteng Chapter of ASAQS presented a very interesting CPD Seminar on facilities Management on the 19th February 2002 at Wits. The Seminar was well attended and the lecture, by Arthur Coy, could have persuaded some of you to find out more about this relatively new field in property management. As a matter of interest, since its formation in 1993, the British Institute of Facilities Management has remained the fastest growing professional body in the UK... Click here to enter the BIFM bookstore and browse through the books on FM Theory and Practice.

Click here to get your free fortnightly electronic bulletin updating facilities managers on all the latest new and changing legislation that affects the workplace. Topics covered include property, health and safety, employment, fire safety, waste management, security and much more.

You may also wish to browse to this American website covering facilities design and management.

REMINDER FOR THIS WEEK:
JOHANNESBURG 2002 GOLF DAY
The annual Johannesburg golf day is taking place on 26 February 2002 at the WANDERERS COUNTRY CLUB. Early entries are recommended as we had a full house with our last golf day in Pretoria. Click here to download full details.

CALLING ALL CHAPTERS
The ASAQS webmaster is there to assist you to get your news out to your members (and the world) in an easy and efficient way. So why not make use of the service?

• We can help you set up forms on ASAQS.co.za to capture your member's data.
• We can set up an internet-based mailing system for you.
• We can publish your news on the ASAQS website.
• We can convert your Word documents into pdf or HTML files.

Contact the ASAQS webmaster to make use of this free service.

ELPAVO WORKSHOPS
(Please note that these workshops are presented by ElPavo and not CEASA as reported last week)
23 February 2002 - Contingency
2 March 2002 - Cost Control, Scope Changes and Code of Accounts
16 March 2002 - Exponential Estimating
23 March 2002 - Escalation
ENQUIRIES:
Marié Voogt (011) 766 2805

New members to the CUG
A warm word of welcome to the following member who has joined us in the CUG during the past week:

Karl Röhrs
Mark Baxter
Martin Taylor
Johan Nel
Vusi Mahole

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.