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PROPERTY
DEVELOPMENT, ENGINEERING AND CONSTRUCTION
Black-empowerment
trend picks up speed in consulting engineering
South African Association of Consulting Engineers (Saace) executive
director Graham Pirie says the recent merger between black-owned
consulting firm Goba Moahloli & Associates and well-established
consultancy Keeve Steyn is the latest in a trend which is set to
continue.
(©www.engineeringnews.co.za)
40%
of public investment should be in infrastructure
In a developing economy at least 40% of public investment and 20%
of the country's total investment portfolio is typically channelled
into infrastructure. The South African government has often been
accused of underspending in this sector. The World Bank's South
African country office senior transport specialist Susanne Holste
has again raised this contentious issue, emphasising that government
is underspending on maintaining transportation infrastructure.
(©www.engineeringnews.co.za)
Black
middle class keeps property on the boil
Pretoria - The black middle class was helping to sustain the upswing
in the Gauteng property market, Ronald Ennik, the managing director
of Pam Golding Properties' Gauteng region, said yesterday.
(©www.busrep.co.za)
NHFC
increases net income by 8m rand
Johannesburg - The National Housing Finance Corporation increased
its net income by R8-million for the year ended March 31, it was
reported on Tuesday.
(©www.busrep.co.za)
New
owners for Durr Estates
Cape Town - Durr Estates - the 32-year-old property company and
a well-established Cape estate agency - has new owners, after being
liquidated in October.
(©www.busrep.co.za)
Gensec
plan may lure prime portfolios to the JSE
SANLAM property division Gensec Properties is engaged in a re-engineering
process which could deliver a couple of tripleA property portfolios
to the JSE Securities Exchange SA soon. It is expected to give a
boost to the listed property sector, which seems to have been struggling
to lure quality portfolios, instead of being seen as a place institutional
investors dump subquality properties.
(©www.bday.co.za)
Afprop
prepares for a long, hot summer
This summer is set to be a long and hot one for African
Life Properties (Afprop), which faces the task of letting a 6030m²
new office building on the corner of Fricker and Chaplin Roads in
Illovo Boulevard, north of Johannesburg. Initially scheduled to
be complete by June, the building stood empty during its official
launch last weekend.
(©www.bday.co.za)
SA
Retail floats property units
SA Retail Properties, the R810m property fund, floated its units
for the first time on the property loan stock sector of the JSE
Securities Exchange SA last week. Fund manager Peter Sparks said
the private placing was oversubscribed and described market sentiment
as "positive". He said the listing reflected the "ever
growing momentum of the securitisation of quality property investment".
(©www.bday.co.za)
SA
Retail Properties gets warm reception
Durban - SA Retail Properties, the R785 million Marriott Property
Services fund that listed at R5 a unit last week, has been trading
at R5,15 since shortly after opening for trade on Thursday.
(©www.busrep.co.za)
Richway
will go into liquidation
IT is official: Richway Retail Properties will go into voluntary
liquidation, making way for the expansion of Primegro into a R2bn
property loan stock company. Yesterday's official statement on the
matter followed Richway's decision to sell most of its properties
to Primegro for about R1,1bn. This deal came in the middle of an
increase in the trend of converting directly held property into
listed property and added to the flurry of corporate activity seen
in the property loan stock sector of the JSE Securities Exchange
SA.
(©www.bday.co.za)
Monex
tries to get out of Canal Walk
Monex is once again trying to sell its 33% stake in Canal Walk,
the largest shopping centre in Africa, located in Cape Town. Monex
chairman Chris Ball said there had been renewed interest in the
shopping centre recently and Monex had entered talks which should
be concluded in about four weeks. BoE, meanwhile, also hopes to
sell its 42% stake in Canal Walk. Earlier this year BoE and Monex
tried, unsuccessfully, to dispose of their Canal Walk stakes to
Richway Retail Properties. This cast doubt on the financial health
of the R1,2bn centre, which was launched in December last year.
(©www.bday.co.za)
Liberty
may bid for Canal Walk
Monex's notice that it was in negotiations to sell its 33% interest
in Canal Walk has sparked speculation that Liberty Life Properties
is the front runner in the bidding for the largest shopping centre
in Africa. Liberty and Monex have declined to comment on the matter
but the speculation is that Liberty has trumped other bidders offering
R1,3bn for the entire centre.
(©www.bday.co.za)
Extraordinary
costs dent BoE's earnings
Cape Town - BoE's attributable income for the year to September
fell to R283 million from R970 million as extraordinary items wiped
out a robust performance by the group's core specialist investment
and banking operations.
(©www.busrep.co.za)
Local
gambling creates millionaires at the expense of others
Life is indeed full of ironies and paradoxes - South Africans
cannot escape that reality. We all seem to agree that income taxes
are painful yet we continue to extract more taxes from ourselves
daily.
(©www.busrep.co.za)
German
giant set to help construct SA steel plants
German steel giant Ferrostaal is to help build two downstream stainless
steel plants, together worth R860m, with at least one project due
to be sited at the Coega deep-water port and industrial development
zone. This was confirmed yesterday by the deputy director-general
in the trade and industry department, Bahle Sibisi. At the current
exchange rate, the investment would translate to just more than
R860m for the two projects, which could generate export revenue
of about à 400m, or R3,4bn, in seven years.
(©www.bday.co.za)
German
multinational commits to projects in SA
Cape Town - German multinational Ferrostaal has committed itself
to building two stainless steel beneficiation plants in South Africa,
at least one of which will be based at Coega, according to the department
of trade and industry.
(©www.busrep.co.za)
Ferrostaal
to stay out of Coega
A Spanish acquisition of Columbus Stainless, has destroyed all hope
of a R1,2bn German anchor investment in a cold-rolling mill at the
Coega deepwater port and industrial zone in the Eastern Cape, industry
sources said at the weekend.
(©www.bday.co.za)
Polish
company leaves SA in disgust over Coega delays
Johannesburg - The embattled Coega development project this week
experienced further turbulence with news that an international construction
company hoping to build the multimillion-rand port in the Eastern
Cape had quit South Africa in disgust.
(©www.busrep.co.za)
Debate
pits ecologists' white elephant against developers' economic knight
There is no standing in the way of a good idea whose time has come:
this is how Pepi Silinga, the head of Coega Development Corporation
(CDC), deals with claims that plans to build the deepwater port
of Ngqurha and the adjacent industrial development zone (IDZ) near
Port Elizabeth (together known as the Coega IDZ) will come to nought.
(©www.busrep.co.za)
Sweet
moment for Hans Smith
The first building block in the rationalisation of the SA steel
industry was put in place yesterday when Iscor shareholders voted
to unbundle the steel and mining group and to merge Saldanha Steel
with Iscor's steel assets. On Monday, the mining division Kumba
Resources will be separately listed on the JSE securities exchange,
with one share in Kumba being issued for each Iscor share. Iscor's
share price continued its recent rally yesterday, at R33,80, a gain
on the day of 40c after reaching a new year-high of R34,50 earlier.
(©www.bday.co.za)
Iscor
gets approval for unbundling
Steel and mining company Iscor Ltd said on Wednesday it had won
shareholder approval for splitting and separately listing its mining
and steel businesses.
(©www.bday.co.za)
R500m
Springs–Ermelo road-rehab plan
The National Roads Agency (NRA) plans to rehabilitate and upgrade
a 162-km stretch of the N17 highway between Springs, in Gauteng,
and Ermelo, in Mpumalanga, at a cost of R500-million. The agency
has engaged independent consultants to undertake an environmental-impact
assessment, scheduled for completion by the end of January.
(©www.engineeringnews.co.za)
State
tender system in radical overhaul
Government procurement is in a profound change, with the introduction
of a new preferrential procurement policy and a Common Service Provider
instead of the State Tender Board.
(©www.engineeringnews.co.za)
Foreign
investors stay clear of the world's biggest dam
Hubei, China - Three Gorges Dam, which is rising on China's Yangtze
River, is the world's biggest construction project. As many as 30
000 workers have manned nine concrete plants, 40 cranes and hundreds
of trucks as the wall stretches towards its 18-storey summit. When
completed in 2009, the dam will be wide enough to block the Golden
Gate Bridge.
(©www.busrep.co.za)
NEWS
FROM AFRICA
Trouble
at Enron may endanger plans for Maputo steel project
Maputo - The recent downturn in fortunes for the American energy
company, Enron Corporation, may quash hopes for the construction
of a natural gas-fueled factory to produce steel slabs for export
in Mozambique, officials said on Friday.
(©www.busrep.co.za)
Nigeria
pulls out of telecoms deal at last minute
Nigeria on Thursday postponed at the last minute the signing of
a deal to sell a majority interest in state telecoms company Nitel
for $1,317-billion to a consortium allied with a unit of Portugal
Telecom.
(©www.engineeringnews.co.za)
Egypt
moves to curb imports
Egypt’s cabinet has announced further measures to restrict
imports and conserve foreign exchange reserves during an economic
downturn.The measures, including cutting government demand for foreign
currency by $1-billion for the rest of the financial year, were
listed in a statement issued after a cabinet meeting.
(©www.engineeringnews.co.za)
Shell
digs for black gold in rich fields off Angola
Royal Dutch Shell plans to sink several billion dollars in deep
and ultra-deep water projects off Angola, a senior company official
said yesterday. "Our focus in exploration and production will
be on deep water and, for example, the ultra-deep water blocks like
34," Shell Angola MD Luuk Karsten said. "These are places
where we have an advantage to use the technology that we have tried
out elsewhere, such as in the Gulf of Mexico," said Karsten,
who arrived in Luanda in August after a stint in Nigeria.
(©www.bday.co.za)
Afgem
to start mining in Tanzania after delays
African Gem Resources will start production of tanzanite from its
Merelani mine in Tanzania nearly a year after initially scheduled.
Reporting results for the seven months ended September 30, African
Gem Resources (Afgem) said that its plans to develop the tanzanite
gem stone mine were held up because of a law suit. The starting
date for production was originally set for May this year, but was
pushed back to July, after which legal proceedings resulted in further
delays.
(©www.bday.co.za)
Harare
deals another blow to farmers
Zimbabwe's government announced plans yesterday to slash the maximum
allowable size of the country's commercial farms in a move economists
warned would severely hamper the agricultural sectors' international
competitiveness. The new regulations, which target farms that have
not been listed for compulsory seizure by the government under its
controversial land reform scheme, will limit commercial farms in
prime areas to 250ha, down from several thousands of hectares.
(©www.bday.co.za)
HOUSING
NEWS AND LAND ISSUES
Farmer's
dispute delays clean-up of asbestos dump
Cape Town - A squabble between a farmer and the government over
compensation for loss of grazing land is holding up the rehabilitation
of a massive blue asbestos mine dump at Whitesands outside Kuruman
in the Northern Cape.
(©www.busrep.co.za)
Richards
Bay Minerals changes the fortunes of rural farmers
Durban - Richards Bay Minerals, the largest titanium slag producer
in the world, has changed the lives of struggling subsistence farmers
through its Esibusisweni rural development project.
(©www.busrep.co.za)
Bill
may boost rural development funds
Farm dwellers and people living on communal land in rural areas
could have greater access to development finance from financial
institutions if government upgrades land tenure rights. While the
Land Bank has taken a more flexible approach to forms of collateral
to grant loans to develop agricultural projects on communal land,
Absa's farm finance division has adopted a more cautious approach.
(©www.bday.co.za)
SA
to receive welcome boost as offshore project sets up house
Durban - Housing in the country will receive a welcome boost next
year with the building of 300 houses in three provinces as part
of a project initiated by former US president Jimmy Carter. The
Jimmy Carter Work Project will see the former president as well
as volunteers building the 300 houses in KwaZulu-Natal, Gauteng
and the Western Cape.
(©www.busrep.co.za)
MINING
NEWS
SA
mining to invest R78bn in capex projects
Johannesburg - South Africa's mining industry would invest an estimated
R78 billion in capital expenditure projects between now and 2004,
according to the Chamber of Mines. The undertaking was a demonstration
of commitment to South Africa's future and the promise the country's
mining industry still held, said the chamber's outgoing president,
Rick Menell.
(©www.busrep.co.za)
Asbestos
claims to name Gefco, Gencor
Cape Town - Local asbestos mining company Gefco and its parent company
Gencor would be included in the bid
for fair compensation for South Africans suffering from asbestosis,
personal injury lawyers said yesterday.
(©www.busrep.co.za)
Iscor's
split into a lean, mean machine makes millionaires
The historic unbundling of Iscor into separately listed steel and
mining companies has created eight new South African millionaires
(©www.busrep.co.za)
Kumba
is in talks to cut Sishen costs
Iscor's mining business, Kumba Resources which will be listed on
the JSE Securities Exchange SA next week has held informal talks
with Assmang and Samancor as it looks at ways to cut costs at its
Sishen iron ore operation in Northern Cape.
(©www.bday.co.za)
Free
State gold mines officially sold
AngloGold, the world's top gold producer, confirmed yesterday that
it sold four Free State gold mines to a Harmony Gold and African
Rainbow Minerals joint venture for R2,2bn in cash. AngloGold chairman
Bobby Godsell said it would use the proceeds to reduce debt, settle
liabilities and complete major capital projects. "The cash
is in no way linked to the Normandy bid," Godsell said.
(©www.bday.co.za)
AngloGold
fires its first salvo in bid war
AngloGold is not giving up its takeover bid for Australia's Normandy
Mining without a fight, firing its first salvo yesterday with the
accusation that Normandy may have misled its shareholders in its
response to the bid. US-based Newmont Mining trumped AngloGold's
A3,2bn bid for Normandy last week, tabling an offer which it said
was at a 21% premium. But AngloGold said yesterday that the difference
had narrowed because of share price movements since the Newmont
bid was announced.
(©www.bday.co.za)
AngloGold
'to sweeten Normandy bid by R1,5bn'
Melbourne - AngloGold was set to raise its offer for Normandy Mining
by more than A$300 million (R1,5 billion) in cash to top a rival
bid by Newmont Mining, the Australian, a newspaper, reported yesterday.
(©www.busrep.co.za)
Is
AngloGold a takeover target?
AngloGold, caught flat footed by Newmont's counter bid for Normandy,
may now itself be a takeover target, with speculation that Vancouver-based
Barrick Gold, the world's largest gold company by market value,
may be looking to bid for part of the company.
(©www.bday.co.za)
Gold
Fields is digging deep for gold
Theunissen, Free State - Gold Fields' Kloof gold mine near
Carletonville on the West Rand could soon be mining at depths of
more than 4km, making it the deepest gold producer in the world.
(©www.busrep.co.za)
BHP
may sell its Richards Bay unit
Melbourne - BHP Billiton, the largest mining company, might sell
its half stake in a $1,6 billion South African mineral sand producer
when it completed a review of its operations in early 2002, analysts
said yesterday.
(©www.busrep.co.za)
Randgold
Resources signs a deal with Senegal
Dakar - Randgold Resources has signed a new gold exploration deal
with Senegal, extending its west African operations after developing
the Morila mine in Mali.
(©www.busrep.co.za)
PGM
market is anti-competitive, says tribunal
Johannesburg - The Competition Tribunal has described the market
for platinum group metals (PGMs) as anti-competitive and has urged
competition authorities to ensure the market does not permit its
small number of major participants to manipulate supply and thus
dictate the price.
(©www.busrep.co.za)
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