PROPERTY DEVELOPMENT, ENGINEERING AND CONSTRUCTION

Property investors raked in returns of 17%, says Absa
Pretoria - Returns on property had amounted to about 17 percent in dollar terms during the second quarter of this year, according to Absa's latest economic perspective. The report said new legislation permitting property unit trusts to make greater use of geared financing, combined with prospects of an increase in the securitisation of direct property portfolios, could give this asset class a boost. "For the next year, it is estimated that property will offer returns slightly above the rate of inflation, or about 8 percent," it said.
(©www.busrep.co.za)

Strijdom Square plans were never approved
As far as can be determined, building plans for the Strijdom Square dome were never submitted to the local authority and were, therefore, not approved, says City Development Control (Pretoria administrative unit) director Louis Bouwer.
(©www.engineeringnews.co.za)

Public works department backs R2bn IT park in Midrand
A R2bn information technology (IT) park has won the vote of the public works ministry as the most suitable proposal for a state-owned 150ha site in Midrand, north of Johannesburg. Several Midrand-based commercial property brokers have applauded the choice, saying the proposal suits the prime site south of the Development Bank of Southern Africa's premises, as Midrand is becoming a home for top IT players, providing synergy for the proposed IT park.
(©www.bday.co.za)

Underspending widespread, figures show
Some provincial departments have got off to low spending on capital projects, school feeding schemes and hospital rehabilitation, government's quarterly expenditure statement shows. While the shortage of classrooms is still a serious national challenge, several departments seem to have done little to deal with the issue in the financial year's first quarter, despite budget allocations for such projects.
(©www.bday.co.za)

Sale of state properties to bring in R100m revenue
Pretoria - About R100 million in revenue could be expected to start flowing into government coffers in the next financial year from the disposal of underused or redundant state-owned properties, Frans Potgieter, the director of property disposals at the public works department, said late last week.
(©www.busrep.co.za)

R27m tracked for Cape Flats station revamp
A new station and a public transport interchange which includes a taxi rank are being built on the Khayelitsha line between Philippi and Mandalay stations to provide a rail service for the communities in Lower Crossroads and surrounding areas.
(©www.bday.co.za)

McDonald's is new star in Capricorn's constellation
Cape Town - Investment at the city's 200ha Capricorn Business and Technology Park in Muizenberg has begun to take off and has caught the eye of McDonald's, which plans to open its 20th fast food outlet in the Western Cape inside the park.
(©www.busrep.co.za)

Proposal for new city hall to be presented
A proposal to come before the unicity executive committee tomorrow will detail the development of a new city hall complex as a public-private partnership project. Johannesburg-based black empowerment company MerafeZen Property Holdings approached the council in April with an unsolicited proposal for the development of a councilowned piece of land on the fringe of the central business district, namely the Durban central site. The developers propose constructing a civic centre with council chambers, a mayor's parlour and councillors' offices, an art gallery and a central library.
(©www.bday.co.za)

Engen gives further funding to reduce Durban air pollution
Durban - Engen on Thursday announced that it would make available another R70-million to further reduce sulphur dioxide emissions from its refinery in the Durban south basin.
(©www.busrep.co.za)

Iscor discussing final terms of IDC deal
Steel firm Iscor Limited said on Thursday it was on the home stretch of negotiations with state-owned Industrial Development Corporation (IDC) over unbundling its steel and mining assets. Iscor said in July it was in discussions with the IDC over the recapitalisation of loss-making Saldanha Steel, which is 50% owned by each, and the long-term supply of iron ore to Iscor after Iscor unbundles its mining division, Kumba Resources.
(©www.bday.co.za)

Iscor's results not as promising
The market was favourably surprised by Iscor's results, driving the share price over R28 as the embattled company managed to report a significant rise in headline earnings. This values the company almost exactly half way between its lows of last year and the more optimistic R52 number that its advisers JP Morgan have suggested for the company.
(©www.bday.co.za)

Iron ore, coal prices boost BHP Billiton
Combined group profit meets expectations. BHP Billiton, now officially the world's largest diversified mining company, has reported combined group profit for the year to the end of June up 26% at $2,2bn, or 37c a share, with increased demand for iron ore and a significant increase in coal prices boosting the bottom line.
(©www.bday.co.za)

Lower steel prices weigh on Columbus
Sale of stake to Spanish company to go ahead. Stainless, the joint venture between Samancor, Highveld Steel and the state-owned Industrial Development Corporation, is expected to announce an operating loss of about R260m for the year to June 30. The announcement will come next week when Highveld Steel releases its interim results, which will also include Columbus's full results. Samancor is a joint venture between Anglo American and BHP-Billiton, which produced its annual results on Monday.
(©www.bday.co.za)

Khulani eyes stake in Tongaat
Durban – Khulani Holdings, the black empowerment group with strong links to the IFP, has designs on a portion of Anglo American’s 51 percent stake in Tongaat-Hulett, the sugar and aluminium group based in KwaZulu-Natal.
(©www.busrep.co.za)

Smokeless fuel project for Africa
An official of Royal Dutch/Shell has reported that the company is studying the possibility of making a smokeless energy brick for cooking in African villages to reduce firewood consumption. “Conceptually we have a solution - the question is to make it affordable,” Jan Verloop, an executive in the technology and innovation strategy department of Shell Global Solutions, told Reuters
(©www.bday.co.za)

Can SA avoid becoming the next California?
Is South Africa, with its energy sector that is set to undergo significant restructuring in the near future, in danger of experiencing a power crisis, as is being experienced in California, in the US?
(©www.engineeringnews.co.za)

NEWS FROM AFRICA

Implats is confident about mines in Zimbabwe
CE Rumble believes the company remains on track to get returns on its investments soon
KEITH Rumble, the new CE of Impala Platinum, is confident the political unrest in Zimbabwe will have little effect on its mining operations there. The miner has stakes in three Zimbabwean mines, giving it access to 85% of platinum reserves in the country. Rumble, at his first results conference after taking up the CE role only five weeks ago said he was concerned about the "deteriorating circumstances".
(©www.bday.co.za)

HOUSING NEWS AND LAND ISSUES

Century City 'should have been for housing'
Cape Town partnership chairperson Michael Farr, slamming the multibillion-rand Century City development, says the land should have been used for low-cost housing. Speaking at the Best Cities 2001 conference in Johannesburg on Wednesday, Farr launched a scathing attack on Century City, saying it was the kind of "unchecked urban sprawl" that Cape Town unicity should avoid in future.
(©www.iol.co.za)

Land released for Khayelitsha housing
In one of the first concrete steps to address the city's housing and land crises, the Cape Town unicity has identified a 67ha site to house about 4 000 Khayelitsha families as part of the Sakhisizwe land relief project. The announcement on Wednesday by the city's interim housing manager, Hans Smit, comes after months of attempted land invasions in the area and political rhetoric over the land and housing crises in the city.
(©www.iol.co.za)

Alex village residents set for rent standoff
Confrontation is looming between Tsutsumani residents and the housing company that runs the village at Alexandra, north of Johannesburg. Residents were due to embark on a rent boycott from Tuesday because their demands over the houses and conditions will not be met.
(©www.iol.co.za)

MINING NEWS

Angloplat, ARM finalise joint venture
Minister praises deal as example to industry. ANGLO Platinum (Angloplat) and blackowned African Rainbow Minerals yesterday finalised a 50/50 joint venture agreement with ARM Mining Consortium for the development of the Maandagshoek platinum mine. Based on the eastern limb of Anglo Platinum's Bushveld Complex, the greenfield site is on target to reach full production of 162000 ounces of platinum by 2003, will cost R1,35bn to develop and will employ 1500 workers. The black empowerment deal, Anglo Platinum's third, was welcomed by Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka, minerals and energy minister, who said the joint venture presented SA's mining industry with a good example.
(©www.bday.co.za)

Mining group passing probation
Credit, is being paid to BHP Billiton's deputy CE, Brian Gilbertson. There might be grumbles from some investors that BHP Billiton has failed to lay out a definitive strategy for its future growth, but the overall view as to just how the merged mining entity is doing is generally a favourable one. At the Johannesburg base, questions have been raised about possible divestments and probable acquisitions, but it seemed credit, in reasonable amounts, was being paid to Brian Gilbertson, deputy CE of the world's largest diversified mining group.
(©www.bday.co.za)

Marine diamond mining pays off
Long-term gain for De Beers and Namibia as ocean mining goes hi-tech. Twice a week, a helicopter takes off at the small airport at Oranjemund on the southwestern tip of the Namibian coastline right on the border with SA to fly out to sea. A few minutes later, it touches down on the landing deck of the Debmar Atlantic, a diamond mining ship operating about 17 nautical miles off the Skeleton Coast, Namibia's harsh desert coastline.
(©www.bday.co.za)

Get on the ‘Net, sellers told
Home sellers should ask the estate agency that lists their home for sale to guarantee that the property will be given exposure on the Internet. So says Seeff residential properties CEO Stuart Manning, who notes that the advertising of properties for sale on the Internet has leapt from being a “gimmick” to “the third most powerful form of direct marketing after print advertising and show houses”. Indeed, he believes that web sites featuring listings of thousands of homes for sale will soon become the starting point for most home searches.
(©www.mweb.co.za/property24/)

Market disregards Zimbabwe unrest
The latest wave of lawlessness gripping Zimbabwe is having little if any negative effect on the Johannesburg residential property market. Spokesmen for Pam Golding Properties, Lew Geffen Properties, ERA Chas Everitt, De Huizemark and Wendy Machanik Properties all said this week that the metro had experienced no fall off in demand for residential property, in spite of the images of violence and unrest in Zimbabwe receiving prominent international news coverage.
(©www.mweb.co.za/property24/)

Tackling self-management in ST schemes
Small sectional title (ST) schemes often experience difficulty in finding a reputable managing agent to take them on at a reasonable cost. But the decision to self-manage should not be taken lightly. For a start, says ST expert Bob Gauld, bodies corporate of self-managed schemes will need a copy of the Sectional Titles Act; the Annexure 8 & 9 rules; the rules for their scheme as filed with the Registrar of Deeds and a copy of the sectional plan approved by the Surveyor General.
(©www.mweb.co.za/property24/)

NEW DOCUMENTS IN THE CUG
Please browse to the CUG on the ASAQS website to view fresh information and download some new documents.

We have added the Model Bills of Quantities for Small or Simple Buildings. WinQS-users will also find a copy which they can download and restore in their library.

The latest practice notes have been bundled together and are available in PDF format from the "New Document" section within the CUG.

GOLF DAY ONLY 9 DAYS AWAY!
Time is running out to book your place in the tee-off to the annual golf day organised by the Gauteng Chapter! Have a great day at the Pretoria Country Club on the 4th September 2001. Click here to obtain your entry form (in .pdf format)

CPD SEMINAR
The Gauteng Chapter are also presenting a CPD seminar shortly:
When? 18 September 2001 at 14:00 18:00 (13:30 for 14:00)
Where? Room 3-3, Boukunde Building, Main Campus, University of Pretoria Lynnwood Road, Pretoria
What? VALUE MANAGEMENT: CREATING BUSINESS OPPORTUNITIES
How long? Four hour afternoon lecture Points?
Category 1: 4 hours - 8 points
How much? R150.00 per delegate
Browse to http://www.asaqs.co.za to dowload the full program.

The Value of Project Management
Continuing with The Value of Project Management Series we now take a look at the next step in the management process:
5.0 Manage Scope
Definition: Scope is the way that we describe the boundaries of the project. It defines what the project will deliver and what it will not deliver. For larger projects, it can include the organizations affected, the transactions affected, the data types included, etc.
If you look at the reasons that projects fail, it is usually the result of two problems. Either the team did not spend enough time defining the project and/or there was a lack of scope management. Even if the Project Manager did a good job of defining scope, the hard part comes in having to manage the project to that scope.
Click here to read on.
(©www.tenstep.com)

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

No new members were approved this week

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.

Now read the rest of Did you Hear? in the Financial Mail

Did you see?

Tau West Cam

Visit the waterpool at the Tau Game Lodge. Lovers of the wild will find the new Africam Folklore section interesting. Did you know that the Hoopoe is the harbinger of friends? Read about birds in African folklore. Credo Mutwa is the storyteller