PROPERTY DEVELOPMENT, ENGINEERING AND CONSTRUCTION

SOUTH AFRICAN NEWS

CGT looms – but no need for valuation panic
Monday is D-day for the introduction of Capital Gains Tax (CGT) – but there is no need for home owners to panic about getting a valuation before then.
(©www.property24.co.za)

Foreigners will escape capital gains tax
Johannesburg - Foreign investors in local financial markets will not be directly affected by the introduction of capital gains tax (CGT) from October 1. But as the new tax is expected to impact on the profitability and administrative efficiency of some levels of domestic investors it could have a knock-on effect. "As the tax is based on residence, it will not affect capital profit made by foreign investors whose tax domicile is elsewhere," said Klaus Bauknecht, an economist at investment bank ING Barings SA.
(©www.busrep.co.za)

Market turmoil may affect CGT
The South African Revenue Service says the recent turmoil in global financial markets could affect a capital gains tax to be introduced on Monday.
(©www.property24.co.za)

Regal clients in for long wait
Johannesburg - Depositors of Regal Treasury Private Bank would not be refunded the full value of their holdings in the failed bank and should prepare for a long wait before receiving part of the money owed to them, Tim Store, the bank's curator, said yesterday.
(©www.busrep.co.za)

Jongilanga group wins housing complex tender
Cape Town - The Jongilanga Consortium, led by Mvelaphanda Holdings, had won a state tender for 95,7ha of land at the defunct Silvermine naval base near Simonstown and intended to invest R170 million to develop a housing and retirement village complex on the land, Tokyo Sexwale, the executive chairman of Mvelaphanda, said yesterday.
(©www.busrep.co.za)

Consortium wins Silvermine tender
A consortium led by former Gauteng Premier Tokyo Sexwale's Mvelaphanda won a government tender aimed at developing 30ha of prime state land at Silvermine in the Western Cape, Public Works Minister Stella Sigcau said in Parliament yesterday. Sigcau said the R33m paid for the property exceeded the land's open market value of R27m. Winning consortium Jongilanga is to develop a medium-density residential estate and a retirement and frail care centre on the land, located next to Silvermine's naval complex.
(©www.bday.co.za)

Aveng to consolidate locally and build internationally
Johannesburg - Having transformed itself from a fixed investment conglomerate into a focused construction-related group over the past three years, Aveng was urgently moving ahead to focus on building global competitiveness, said managing director Carl Grim. Writing in Aveng's annual report, released on Monday, Grim said the company's goal was to raise hard-currency earnings to 25 percent of the total by 2003.
(©www.busrep.co.za)

Empowerment company to build R40m fish factory in Cape Flats
Cape Town - A 15-year-old empowerment fishing company, Cape Fish Processors, planned to build a R40 million fish processing factory in the Philippi/Mitchells Plain poverty zone, Harry Mentor, the chief executive, said yesterday. It would create up to 400 permanent and 800 semi-permanent jobs. The project was originally intended for the Mitchells Plain Industrial Park, but because of negotiations still under way between the Cape Town city council and the Mitchells Plain Trust, the Philippi/ Mitchells Plain development corridor had been settled on as the best location.
(©www.busrep.co.za)

Mayor gives Gateway centre the thumbs-up
Durban mayor Obed Mlaba gave Durban's new R1,4 billion Gateway Shopping Centre in Umhlanga the thumbs-up on Tuesday, saying that similar projects aimed at developing the city were in the pipeline.
(©www.iol.co.za)

R20m still missing from KZN development fund
A sum of R20-million, part of the controversial Reconstruction and Development Fund which was administered by KwaZulu-Natal's former director-general, Professor Otty Nxumalo, still remains unaccounted for - despite countless calls by the office of the provincial auditor-general to be furnished with information on how these funds were utilised.
(©www.iol.co.za)

Airport debt may spin out of control
The US’s airports, which have embarked on $70 billion of improvement projects to meet expected demand, may now have trouble paying for them after terrorist attacks are expected to reduce US air travel by 20 percent in the coming months.
(©www.busrep.co.za)

Colliers to bid for Point’s retail
Colliers RMS, the international property developer that abandoned a plan to build a R300 million festival mall at the Point precinct, said this week that it would bid for the retail component of the marine park that was set to kickstart Durban’s Waterfront. Kevin Dunkley, the group’s South African managing director, said Colliers hoped to secure a tender to manage the 12 000m 2 retail component of the park.
(©www.busrep.co.za)

R16bn Iscor deal a step closer
Unbundling of Kumba, recapitalisation of debt-hit Saldanha Steel await ratification of board
THE R16bn transaction that will see Iscor unbundled, coupled with the recapitalisation of the loss-making Saldanha Steel plant, is but one board meeting away. Iscor announced on Friday that it had reached a heads of agreement with the Industrial Development Corporation (IDC) on a number of matters which had stalled the negotiations.
(©www.bday.co.za)

Iscor unveils its new look at last
The anatomy of the much-delayed Iscor unbundling, and its deal with the Industrial Development Corporation (IDC) on the recapitalisation of the Saldanha Steel plant, were finally made public yesterday, along with new plans for the rationalisation of the SA steel industry.
(©www.bday.co.za)

Imaginative engineering
ISCOR and the IDC have deftly managed an ingenious escape from a near desperate predicament. Faced with a hugely unprofitable asset in Saldanha, the two entities have organised a simultaneous restructuring of Iscor and a reshuffle of the IDC's interests in a way that constitutes a creditable and imaginative piece of corporate engineering.
(©www.bday.co.za)

30% of State engineer on auction block
Thirty per cent of the shareholding of each of Rotek Industries subsidiaries Rotek Engineering (RE) and Roshcon will be owned privately from February next year, a Johannesburg firm appointed to advise the government on the long-awaited restructuring tells Engineering News. Rotek Industries is wholly-owned by Eskom Enterprises, the deregulated arm of Eskom, the national power utility.
(©www.engineeringnews.co.za)

SA smarting at loss of big steel contract
As is now well known, the French group, Pechiney, won the contract for the supply of steel superstructures for Phase 2 of the Mozal aluminium smelter in Mozambique, instead of South Africa's Dorbyl Heavy Engineering, which had supplied the steel superstructures not only for Mozal phase one but for the previous Billiton (now BHP Billiton) Hillside and Bayside aluminium smelters at Richards Bay, in Kwazulu-Natal.
(©www.engineeringnews.co.za)

Top constructor's new international strategy
Civil engineering, roads and earthworks and building are the core construction disciplines of one of South Africa's largest construction companies, WBHO, which currently turns over R1,7-billion a year. The 31-year-old 6 000-employee JSE Securities Exchange-listed company is perhaps best known for the many casinos it has built, notably Carnival City and Caesars in Gauteng.
(©www.engineeringnews.co.za)

Steel deal paves way for multi-phase industry consolidation
The conclusion of the long-awaited unbundling deal between mining and steel company, Iscor, and State-owned development financier, the Industrial Development Corporation (IDC), is viewed by the IDC as the first phase in a multi-phased project to consolidate the South African steel industry.
(©www.engineeringnews.co.za)

NEWS FROM AFRICA

Fresh African nuclear energy moves
Morocco and the United States have signed an agreement for peaceful nuclear cooperation, including cooperation in research, Moroccan Energy Minister Mustapha Mansouri said. During a meeting at the energy ministry headquarters, which was attended by government officials and newly appointed US ambassador to Morocco Margaret Tutwiler, Mansouri said: “Morocco plans to develop its own energy resources, including the use of nuclear plants to produce electricity at low costs.” Reuters reports that Morocco, which has no oil of its own, imported last year more than $1,2- billion of crude oil, mainly from the Gulf states, to meet its increasing energy needs.
(©www.engineeringnews.co.za)

Egyptian gas-plant developments advance
Spain’s third-largest power utility, Union Fenosa, is talking to several companies interested in participating in its liquified natural gas (LNG) plant in Egypt, a company official said. Jose Javier Fernandez Martinez, a deputy general manager with Union Fenosa, said the company was also evaluating two offers for an engineering procurement contract for the Danietta LNG plant on the Mediterranean and could make an announcement in the next three to four days.
(©www.engineeringnews.co.za)

HOUSING NEWS AND LAND ISSUES

Gauteng to stop providing free RDP houses 2001
In a dramatic shift of policy, the Gauteng Housing Department has resolved to stop the provision of free Reconstruction and Development Programme houses in the province.
(©www.iol.co.za)

Land, not housing, important
Bisho - People in rural areas were more interested in dipping tanks, grazing and agricultural land than housing, Housing and Local Government spokesperson Mbulelo Linda said on Thursday.
(©www.news24.co.za)

Philippi squatters can stay on land 'for now'
The Cape Town unicity has obtained an order from the Cape Town magistrate's court to evict 800 families illegally occupying council land in Sheffield Road, Phillipi, SABC news reported on Friday.
(©www.iol.co.za)

Pre-paid water for poor to cut rising arrears
The Cape Town unicity is set to introduce a pre-paid system of payment for the provision of water to low-income households in a bid to stem a rising tide of arrears.
(©www.iol.co.za)

Bullets fly and tyres burn in Cape water war
Police fired rubber bullets at Tafesig residents in Mitchells Plain on Thursday night after a confrontation between the two groups.
(©www.iol.co.za)

MINING NEWS

Avmin will have to sell
IT IS inevitable that cash-strapped Anglovaal Mining will cash in its Iscor shares. The question is when not if it will sell. The 5% spurt in Iscor's share price yesterday to R25,25 takes the value of Avmin's stake in the steel and mining company to about R900m, a profit of almost R500m. Iscor's share picked up on indications that long delays in finalising its unbundling have finally come to an end, after a breakthrough in negotiations with the Industrial Development Corporation on recapitalising the loss-making Saldanha Steel.
(©www.bday.co.za)

SA firms buy up Australian gold mines
Diversification leads to major acquisitions. They may be better than us at rugby and cricket at the moment, but SA gold producers seem to have gained the upper hand over their Australian counterparts. In less than three weeks, SA's three biggest gold producers have all announced major acquisitions in Australia, totalling about A3,72bn, as they seek to further diversify geographically and replace ageing, costly orebodies.
(©www.bday.co.za)

Gold Fields open to more growth
Mining house Gold Fields has not closed the door on further acquisitions after its biggest expansion drive to date, paying $232m in cash and shares for the prime gold assets of WMC in Australia. The generous price paid for WMC is also increasing speculation that AngloGold may have to raise its $1,6bn bid for Australia's largest gold miner, Normandy.
(©www.bday.co.za)

Durban Deep to expand in Pacific
Roodepoort Deep is aiming to invest up to A6m on extending its Papua New Guinea gold mining operations. SA's fourth-biggest gold miner is in talks with Australian exploration company Highlands Pacific and has said it may take up the rights to 835000 ounces of proven and probable reserves at Highlands' Kainantu prospect in Papua New Guinea.
(©www.bday.co.za)

Shareholders in bid to revive Atlas mine
The new major shareholder of Atlas Consolidated Mining said yesterday it was in talks with Chinese, European and Japanese companies to revive Asia's largest copper mine. Alfredo Ramos, president of holding firm Alakor, said his firm aimed to rehabilitate the Toledo copper mine of Atlas in central Philippines.
(©www.bday.co.za)

Single-digit rate coming - for some
It is not unlikely that selected homeloan borrowers will be enjoying a single-digit interest rate by the year end.
(©www.property24.co.za)

Spotlight on: Benoni
Benoni is experiencing increasing demand for residential property for a number of reasons, including excellent value for money.
(©www.property24.co.za)

Muizenberg residents fear chlorine emissions
The proposed R320-million fibre optics plant at Capricorn Park in Muizenberg, outside Cape Town, has come under fire from a group of residents concerned about toxic emissions near a densely populated area.
(©www.iol.co.za)

Hom loan calculators
Did you know that Absa have a number of calculators aimed to assist the home owner?
(©www.absa.co.za)

10 things you should know about capital gains tax
Capital gains tax may sound like bad news, but it is easy to manage once you understand it and less daunting when you know it is not designed to fleece taxpayers. There is one thing you have to do – keep good records.
1 What are capital gains and losses?
2 What is not affected by the tax?
3 What is affected?
4 What is the tax rate?
5 What is the object of the tax?
6 What is base cost?
7 How do you value an asset before October 1?
8 What if the asset was an inheritance or part of a divorce settlement?
9 What records should you keep?
10 The taxman is watching
(©www.persfin.co.za)

THE SCOPE STATEMENT
If you don't know where you're going, how do you know when you get there? And this journey of a thousand miles starts with the first step - A written Scope Statement. We show you how.
(©www.projectmagazine.com)

REASONABLE SKILL AND CARE
A person who professes to have a greater expertise than in fact he possesses will be judged on the basis of his pretended skills. In Wimpey Construction UK Ltd - v - D V Poole (1984), it was held that a professional person with special knowledge would be expected to exercise a degree of care in relation to that actual special knowledge. The reasonable skill and care required is measured by reference to the special knowledge and not the lesser knowledge of the ordinary competent practitioner.
(©www.surveyorsplus.co.uk)

GET YOUR FREE ESTIMATING SOFTWARE !!!
It pays to be a member of ASAQS! This month we bring you a free software package worth thousands of rands. It is a slick, simple-to-understand estimating program that will give you good-looking accurate estimates in a spreadsheet format -- all with a minimum start-up effort. ... The learning curve is about 30 minutes -- the time it takes to figure out how to type in your amounts and unit costs and insert items from a database. What's more, you can customise the databases to suit your needs and use the program for far more that what it was originally intended. Get your free copy from our CUG today!

SMALL BUSINESS INSURANCE & RISK MANAGEMENT GUIDE
Insurance is a complicated subject, and few owners of small businesses understand it adequately. This document clarifies some of the issues involved, including: what is risk management; what can be covered under an insurance policy; what are the benefits of having an insurance program; how much insurance does my business need; etc.
(©www.sba.gov)

The Value of Project Management
This is the last in our series on the "Value of Project Management". Today we take a look at:
10.0 ManageMetrics
Gathering metrics on a project is the most sophisticated project management process, and can be the hardest. Because metrics can be hard to define and collect, they are usually ignored.
Click here to read on.
(©www.tenstep.com)

Remain updated on the BEP Convention
Have you registered for the BEP Convention next year?
Click here to find out more

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:

Patrick Njuguna
Joe Post
Keith Barron
Louis Nel
Ismail Agjee

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.