R450-m Jo’burg airport terminal taking off
Work on the R450-million domestic terminal at Johannesburg International Airport (JIA) is on track for completion in October 2002. The terminal is designed to accommodate 10-million passengers a year and forms part of an overall development that will allow for easy flow of passengers and generous queuing, easy transfer between flights and access to every other facility at the airport.
( ©www.engineeringnews.co.za )

Rate cut could boost fixed investment
Reserve Bank governor Tito Mboweni’s announcement last week of a one percentage point cut in the repo rate is vitally important for South Africa’s real economy as it could significantly help boost gross fixed capital formation (GFCF) – that is investments into bricks-and-mortar projects.
( ©www.engineeringnews.co.za )

SA survives 'deindustrialisation', but now needs investment
South Africa has managed to avoid a massive ‘deindustrialisation’ of its economy despite far-reaching structural reform over the last six years, but investment in manufacturing remains weak. Trade and Industry Minister Alec Erwin told parliament that overall production in the sector is rising slowly, at a little over one per cent a year.
( ©www.engineeringnews.co.za )

Houses for all
HOUSING Minister Sankie Mthembi-Mahanyele is due to present her budget to Parliament today. South Africans should be looking to her to float some imaginative new ideas on how to finance low-cost housing in a way that is affordable to borrowers, without threatening the stability of lenders or punching a huge hole in government finances.
( ©www.bday.co.za )

Primegro reorders its portfolio
PROPERTY loan stock company Primegro is reducing its exposure to the retail sector while growing its total property portfolio to R2bn. The shift, primarily from retail to office property, has been effected mainly via acquisition. The company's recent acquisition of four office properties for R46,9m in the north of Johannesburg reduced its retail exposure from 76% of its total portfolio to 59%. The acquisition increased the group's office portfolio from 12% to 28%, while increasing the total portfolio to R1,2bn.
( ©www.bday.co.za )

Unicity's budget sets out priorities
THE City of Johannesburg budget, being debated and voted on today, is the first budget since the launch of the new unicity and its 11 enterprises. We are committed to creating a city where people want to live, work and play.
( ©www.bday.co.za )

Bond cut opens healthy gap
THE latest bond rate cut has helped break the traditional link between inflation and property prices, says Remax director Peter Gilmour. "Traditionally, property has acted as a hedge against inflation in that homeowners could expect to see the value of their properties appreciate roughly in line with the inflation rate.
( ©www.bday.co.za )

Jo'burg to spend R1,2bn to plug services gap
THE Johannesburg Metropolitan Council is to splash out R1,2bn in capital expenditure in the next financial year to plug the gaps in the city's deteroriating services. The three-year budget allocations, a first by a local authority, will be presented to the council by mayor Amos Masondo today.
( ©www.bday.co.za )

Plans for R1,6bn IT centre hatched
A COMMERCIAL science and technology centre worth R1,6bn is planned for Centurion, an industrial town in the north of Johannesburg. The Star Foundation, the company that is spearheading the move, called yesterday for private-sector backing of the proposed project, called The Star Galaxy Property Development Project.
( ©www.bday.co.za )

R190m N.Province casino construction
A R190-million casino and entertainment resort development in the Northern Province is set to create 418 direct and 1 322 indirect jobs. The Meropa Casino and Entertainment World in Pietersburg is regarded as a significant investment for Pietersburg and the Northern Province's tourism and leisure industry.
( ©www.engineeringnews.co.za )

Free basic services expanded
DURBAN Some residents look set to benefit from a fully inclusive free basic services programme from January as the council expands the project to property rates, electricity and state-financed accommodation. Speaking ahead of the unicity's R6,7bn budget presentation, the city treasurer, Krish Kumar, said that the programme to provide free basic services already had metropolitan citizens receiving their first 6kl of water without charge.
( ©www.bday.co.za )

BoE set to buy Cashbank business
BOE is to spend R356m to buy the business of Cashbank, which specialises in pension and provident fund-backed housing finance. This is a further step by BoE into banking the low-income market. Earlier this year, it bought credit finance company Credcor for R637m and it has rolled out 42 branches of its new Pep Bank.
( ©www.bday.co.za )

A turning point for national parks
IN A little village in the far northeastern corner of SA, an unheralded deal was signed last month that could be a turning point in the way the country's national parks operate.
( ©www.bday.co.za )

Fears raised over damage to St Lucia
Durban - Authorities developing ecotourism in the impoverished area of northern KwaZulu Natal have been accused of putting development ahead of the conservation of the Greater St Lucia Park, a world heritage site. This comes as authorities forge ahead with R600 million worth of infrastructure development in the area in a bid to raise international interest in R1 billion investments in game lodges, hotels and beach resorts.
( ©www.busrep.co.za )

Entitlement breakdown for RBCT terminal
The coal division of Iscor Mining will receive two-million tons of the ten-million-ton capacity to be added at the Richards Bay Coal Terminal (RBCT) R600-million phase five, Iscor Mining MD Con Fauconnier tells Engineering News Online.
( ©www.engineeringnews.co.za )

Housing bill will encourage banks to invest in red-lined communities'
DESPITE their apparent reluctance to trade in red-lined areas, Housing Minister Sankie Mthembi-Mahanyele will present legislation to cabinet this year aimed at encouraging banks to invest in these marginalised communities. Introducing her department's budget vote in the National Assembly yesterday, Mthembi-Mahanyele said she would present the Community Reinvestment Bill to cabinet this year, aimed at encouraging the private sector to invest in red-lined communities. This would be done through holding discussions and identifying deterrents to investment. Simphiwe Xako.
( ©www.bday.co.za )

Shell commits 7bn to Nigeria
ABUJA Oil group Royal Dutch-Shell has announced the commitment of $7bn to the development of the Nigerian oil and gas industry. Shell, the oldest and biggest oil producer in the west African country, operates under a joint venture agreement with the state-owned Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, Elf of France and Agip of Italy.
( ©www.bday.co.za )

SA oilfield development gets nod from govt
State-owned oil exploration and production company Soekor E and P has reported that the Minister of Minerals and Energy, Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka, has approved the development of the Sable oilfield.
( ©www.engineeringnews.co.za )

Steel consolidation: strike while the iron is hot
A WINDOW of opportunity has opened for a radical shake-up of the SA steel industry with the imminent break-up of Iscor, the domestic steel and mining group, into separately listed steel and mining companies. A consolidation is particularly important given a glut on the world steel market, with prices having sunk to historic lows.
( ©www.bday.co.za )

Phase two of Moz aluminium smelter gets the go-ahead
The boards of Billiton, Mitsubishi Corporation of Japan, and the Industrial Development Corporation of South Africa (IDC) have announced the decision to go ahead with the Mozal expansion project, Mozal 2.
( ©www.engineeringnews.co.za )

German-Nigerian steel revival plan
German industrial services company Ferrostaal, in a joint venture company with Nigeria's State-owned Ajaokuta Steel, is set to construct a new plant which is expected to play a key role in galvanising the West African country’s ailing steel sector.
( ©www.engineeringnews.co.za )

SA forfeits R1bn plant to Namibia
East Cape politicians say poor incentive scheme resulted in loss of big Malaysian investment.
EASTERN Cape politicians plan to take national government to task over inadequate and uncompetitive investment incentives which they blame for yesterday's loss of a R1bn Malaysian investment to Namibia.
( ©www.bday.co.za )

Lesotho kickstarts work on R800m denim factory
Yesterday's soil turning by Phakalitha Mosisili, Lesotho's prime minister, officially marked the start of construction on an R800 million denim mill and garment factory.
( ©www.busrep.co.za )

Tenders soon for $105m Zambian hydro project
Zambia has short-listed three international consortia for the construction of a $105-million hydropower project in southern Zambia and tender documents will be ready in July, said a senior industry official.
( ©www.engineeringnews.co.za )

Regus to open centre at V&A Waterfront
GLOBAL business centre group Regus is to launch its seventh SA centre. The new centre, at the V&A Waterfront in Cape Town, is set to open in December. Regus southern Africa CE Kevin Rawnsley says the expansion was prompted by rapidly growing demand for "instant office" services in Cape Town.
( ©www.bday.co.za )

Office park tenants shape retail mix
ILLOVO Boulevard is getting a retail area that will accommodate 13 tenants in 640m², focused on servicing the 5000 office employees working in the Johannesburg northern suburbs office park. Vic Snyders, retail director of McCreedy Friedlander, says the leasing agency is striving for a tenant mix that will suit the needs of the Illovo Boulevard residents.
( ©www.bday.co.za )

Spotlight on: Bedfordview
Bedfordview is experiencing an influx of new residents who seek an upmarket address combined with convenient location - and without the traffic congestion encountered in some of the best northern suburbs of Greater Johannesburg.
( ©www.mweb.co.za )

Property market set to gain from rate cut
COMMERCIAL banks are expecting a boost in the property market after the decision to cut the prime lending rate in light of the recent repo rate cut. The decision follows a surprise 1% rate cut by the Reserve Bank last week. Andrew Golding, CE for Pam Golding Properties Group, said the cut allowed more people to "consider their property options more seriously. Our business is very interest-rate sensitive and when we get good news like this, it inevitably results in increased sales activity."
( ©www.bday.co.za )

Cut in bond rate will boost market
Owning your own home becomes easier on the wallet from tomorrow, when banks introduce their 13.75% bond rate.
( ©www.iol.co.za )

Keeping up the common property
Many bodies corporate, in a drive for popularity and “Noddy badges”, neglect common property defects in favour of more popular items.
( ©www.mweb.co.za )

Move to curb foreign land owners
THE director-general of land affairs, Gilengwe Mayende, has written to the home affairs department asking for legislation limiting the ownership of SA land by foreigners. The proposal, while at an early stage, is understood to relate mainly to farm land and government's concerns about ownership trends in Western Cape. It has raised concerns about whether such a move would contradict government's push for productive foreign investment.
( ©www.bday.co.za )

Pam Golding launches agricultural and game farm market unit
PAM Golding Properties has launched an agricultural and game farm market unit with an office in Centurion to support sales services for Gauteng, North West, Mpumalanga and Northern Province.
( ©www.bday.co.za )

Buyers abuse cooling-off clause
Some buyers are taking full advantage of a clause in the law, to the detriment of many others. Property Editor James Brennan reports Many potential buyers of homes are making full use of the five-day cooling-off clause to get out of sale agreements.
( ©www.iol.co.za )

Cape rental deliver good returns
Sought-after properties in exclusive suburbs of the Cape Peninsula are being rented out for record prices and delivering annual returns of between seven and 12 percent for investors.
( ©www.mweb.co.za )

Century City under spotlight as BoE group considers buyout
The group has yet to decide on an offer to minorities in developing firm Monex CENTURY City Centre, a multibillion-rand commercial development in Cape Town, is again under the spotlight as financial services group BoE considers buying out minorities in the centre's developer, Monex.
( ©www.bday.co.za )

More top-end auctions on the cards
The perception that an auction is a downmarket method of last resort when selling a property is simply not correct, says Homenet Eastern Cape director Dave Summerton.
( ©www.mweb.co.za )

Homes and workplaces share a patch in Soweto
SOWETO's entrepreneurs can now live and work on the same stand without the fear of anyone challenging the legality of this concept. This is thanks to Township Realtors, which is responsible for the development of the Protea Glen township in Soweto. The development company is putting on the market 125 stands with residential and industrial rights.
( ©www.bday.co.za )

New approach creates investment opportunities in inner city
Residential property investors would be well advised to take another look at Johannesburg’s inner city.
( ©www.mweb.co.za )

Reaction to rate cuts subdued
Probably the major effect of last week’s surprise home loan interest rate cuts on the residential property market will be to make home ownership more affordable for first-time homebuyers.
( ©www.mweb.co.za )

Scam watch
Joos Botha e-mailed us the following warning:
Colleagues from Schoombie Hartmann, Chiume Africa (both quantity surveyors), a town planner from Randburg and myself have over the past year received a similar phone call from a person pretending to be the spokesperson for a NGO in the North-West Province, inviting one to become part of a professional team for a large new project dealing with either town planning or infrastructure for a new township in the Klerksdorp or Okney areas.
The figures mentioned for these projects normally run into hundreds of millions of Rands and it is only human to be interested.
All four of us at one time or another got into our cars, took off to either Klerksdorp or Orkney and met with this spokesperson.
We all had a similar experience: The person was well dressed, very knowledgeable, knew the subject and answered questions without any suspicion, even showed the proposed site(s) to all of us, had letters on letterheads of NGO’s confirming the proposed projects and then inviting one to become part of the professional team for the project.
One either had to pay a fee to the spokesperson for introducing one as part of the team (it ranged from R 3,000 to R 15,000 in our cases) or contributing towards a function during which the project will be launched and where one would be introduced.
Needless to say, these so-called projects are fakes and fortunately all four of us came off rather lightly. Once I got back to my office, I tried some of the telephone numbers on the letters, all without success. Apart from my trip to Orkney, I had to pay for our lunch (the man had a few colleagues with him) at a restaurant in Klerksdorp.
Please be careful if you receive a similar call and enquire at the local government about the proposed project before disembarking on a trip to these areas. If you decide to go, please take a colleague or two with you.

Thanks Joos. We are thinking of starting a "scam watch" section in the CUG. If you know of any scams doing the rounds please e-mail them to the Webmaster (Insert Scam Watch in the subject line)

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International Roundup
Take a look at the newsletter of Internationl Cost Engineering Council. There is an interesting article on a Facilities Management System for the Maintenance of Government Hospitals in South Africa as well as reports on quantity surveying activities around the world.
( ©www.icoste.org )

New members to the CUG
We wish to welcome the following new member to the CUG:
Vaughn Charles
Pieter Joubert

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.

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