| Cement sales down 9.7% - 25/03/2009 |
Africa’s biggest cement maker, PPC, said regional industry cement sales fell 9.7% in the five months to February due to a slump in the residential housing market. Despite the drop in sales between October 2008 and February 2009, PPC said in a presentation on its website that cement demand from infrastructure projects would boost sales beyond 2010. Moneyweb reports that South Africa has set aside R787bn to build the 2010 World Cup stadia and power generation plants, including state utility Eskom’s new Medupi power station. PPC said it had the financial strength to explore acquisition opportunities, but gave no further details.
|
Full Moneyweb report
|
 |
| The real 2010 heroes - 22/03/2009 |
South Africa’s successful bid to host the 2010 World Cup has proven to be a major catalyst for positive development in South Africa and one sector that is seeing the lion’s share of this is the construction industry. According to a FIFA.com report, as South Africa gears up to host one of the biggest sporting events in the world, the need for construction is ever increasing. From the upgrading of the transport infrastructure, hotel and accommodation facilities as well as the 10 world class stadiums which are either being refurbished or built from scratch in nine host cities, construction companies and the workers are receiving a major boost in these tough economic times.
|
Full report on FIFA.com
|
|
| Soccer City 65% complete - 17/03/2009 |
The venue for the opening and closing matches of the 2010 World Cup in Johannesburg is now 65% complete. Joburg’s 2010 co-ordinator Sibongile Mazibuko said the Soccer City stadium will be ready in time for the 2010 World Cup. The R1.5-billion 94 700-seater stadium is due to be completed in July 2009. Soccer City will host the opening ceremony, opening match, four first-round matches, one second-round match, one quarter final and the final during the 2010 World Cup.
|
Full press release
|
|
| PE stadium reaches a milestone - 11/03/2009 |
In what the local municipality described as a ’milestone’, the last of 36 roof truss girders was fitted to Nelson Mandela Bay’s 2010 World Cup stadium. ’This is a fantastic development not only for Nelson Mandela Bay and the Eastern Cape but for South Africa and Africa at large,’ the municipality said in a media release. According to the report on the IoL site, the R1,7-billion stadium would go operational in May, with a trial sporting event.
|
Full report on the IoL site
|
|
| Crystal Towers on track for 2010 – 06/03/2209 |
Construction of the R700-million mixed-use luxury development, Crystal Towers, with its three tower cranes and a workforce of over 600, is on track for completion in time for the 2010 World Cup. Engineering News reports that Crystal Towers, which is being financed by financial institution Nedbank, is the largest project undertaken by property development company Rabie Property Group, at Century City, since the Canal Walk shopping centre, which was completed in 2000. The project’s workforce is expected to peak at well over 900 as construction progresses.
|
Full Engineering News report
|
|
| Crane mishap at 2010 stadium - 06/03/2009 |
A mobile crane toppled on to its side on Thursday, damaging a concrete stand at the Moses Mabhida Stadium in Durban. No one was injured, but some of the concrete was cracked and will have to be repaired. The Mercury reports that the arm landed along the length of the stand yesterday afternoon and was mangled in the accident. The incident is being investigated.
|
Full report in The Mercury
|
|
| Changing the face of CT airport - 02/03/2009 |
With the construction of Cape Town International Airport’s multimillion-rand terminal rapidly taking shape, soccer fans can expect to touch down at a ’brand-new’ airport during the 2010 World Cup. The Cape Argus reports that Deon Cloete, the airport’s general manager, said the airport was being transformed into ’a world-class airport’. This comes after Airports Company South Africa (Acsa) made a commitment to spend R22 billion over the next five years to change the face of the country’s airports. In Cape Town, R4m has been spent on the airport’s new permit system, while a whopping R38.5m will be spent on a perimeter intrusion detection system. Cloete said the airport was now focused on 2010 and would be dedicating most of its resources to training over the next 17 months.
|
Full Cape Argus report
|
|
| Airport expansion on track for 2010 – 02/03/2009 |
The Ministry of Works and Transport is eager to have the P433-million expansion project of the Sir Seretse Khama International Airport completed in time for 2010 World Cup. According to a Mmegi report, Minister Johnnie Swartz says the government is holding regular meetings with the contractor SinoHydro Corporation, and the consultant NACO-SSI, to ensure that the project is completed within time and cost. Swartz and senior ministry and aviation officials held another meeting with the project’s contractors and consultants earlier this month at which the Minister once again stressed the importance of meeting the 2010 deadline. ’We are talking here about diversification of Botswana’s economy and one thing that will bring this about is tourism,’ he said.
|
Full Mmegi report
|
|
| R100m revamp for EL airport - 28/02/2009 |
More than R100m is being pumped into the East London Airport to give it a facelift and make air travel in and out of the city a pleasure ahead of the 2010 World Cup. ’We want to make the process of driving into the airport, finding a parking space, checking in your luggage and boarding as effortless as possible,’ said airport manager Michael Kernekamp. The Daily Dispatch reports that Kernekamp said the most significant upgrade – at a cost of R97m – is of the terminal building, which houses both arrivals and departures.
|
Full Daily Dispatch report
|
|
| R1bn boost for Acsa - 26/02/2009 |
The Airports Company of South Africa (Acsa) has signed a 15-year loan with the French Development Agency. The Business Times reports that the R1-billion deal will be used for the expansion and upgrading of the central terminal building of OR Tambo International airport. Priscillah Mabelane, Acsa’s finance executive director, said: ’We are pleased with this partnership, which provides long-term funding with an appropriate structure, more so at a time when the credit market is constrained.’ Denis Pietton, the French ambassador to South Africa, said the funds would definitely assist with the hosting of the 2010 World Cup.
|
Full Business Times report
|
|
| 2010 contracts puts WBHO ahead of the game - 23/02/2009 |
The contracts for three soccer stadiums and two airports related to the 2010 World Cup contributed towards Wilson Bayly Holmes-Ovcon (WBHO) achieving exceptional financial results in the six months to December. According to Business Report, the listed construction and engineering group reported 78% growth in headline earnings a share to R7.07, from R3.97. Operating profit improved by 73% to R500.6 million, while turnover rose 35% to R6.8 billion, leading to the group’s operating margin improving to 7.3% from 5.8%. Major construction companies are reaping the benefits of the government’s multibillion-rand infrastructure expenditure programme.
|
Full story in Business Report
|
|
| Mpumalanga stadium on track - 23/02/2009 |
Mpumalanga Premier Thabang Makwetla used his state of the province address to assure that the province is on track to host some of the 2010 World Cup games, despite the dismissal of about 500 striking workers last week. According to a report on the News24 site, 2010 project manager, Neil Fourie, also announced that 75% of the stadium was already completed. He stressed that those who were fired were about to be demobilised anyway as they had completed their part of the project. Spokesperson for the 2010 Integrated Office, Ronny Moyo, said sub-contractors would now complete the project.
|
Full report on the Newws24 site
|
|
| R1bn Boardwalk upgrade on the cards - 20/02/2009 |
Emfuleni, operators of the Boardwalk casino complex in Port Elizabeth, plans to construct a R175-million, five-star hotel and international conference centre if it is successful with its bid to have its licence renewed for a further 15 years. The Herald reports that the hotel will be built on the site of the existing Oriental Village that has ’not proved to be a major drawcard’ while the existing conference facility will be converted into the new ’smoking casino’ after the 2010 World Cup. With the new investment, the total contribution to job creation by the Boardwalk will almost double from 4 386 in 2009 to 8 363 in 2025, while 5 054 direct and indirect work opportunities will be created during the construction phase.
|
Full report in The Herald
|
|
| Green Point stadium makes steady progress - 20/02/2009 |
The slow and complex procedure of raising the inner ring of the Green Point stadium roof has been completed. CBN reports that this marks another milestone on the route to the 2010 World Cup which starts in June next year. The process of tightening the ’spokes’ and raising the inner ring of the roof structure from ground level to a height of 34,5 metres began on 9 February and was successfully completed on 18 February. Mike Marsden, Executive Director responsible for 2010 with the City of Cape Town, said that the inner Tension Ring had been successfully installed by using hydraulic jacks that progressively tightened the 72 cables connecting the inner and outer rings of the roof. A total of 7,4 km of cabling weighing 370 tons was raised.
|
Full CBN report
|
|
| Free State stadium 98% complete – 20/02/2009 |
The upgrade of the Free State stadium, in Bloemfontein, one of the venues of the 2010 World Cup, is 98% complete, with the &esquo;very few outstanding items to be completed by the end of this month,&esquo; says Mangaung 2010 CEO George Mohlakoana. Engineering News reports that the project, with a price tag of R305-million, began in September 2007. It entailed adding a second tier which will be added to the main grandstand of the stadium, increasing the seating capacity from 38 000 to 46 000.
|
Full Engineering News report
|
|
| Months of traffic chaos in store for Durban – 18/02/2009 |
The Ruth First Freeway (M4 or northern freeway) directly adjacent to the new Moses Mabhida Stadium is the next stretch of road that will be altered dramatically as city engineers revamp Durban before the 2010 soccer spectacular. The Daily News reports that motorists travelling to and from areas such as Durban North, La Lucia, Umhlanga, Phoenix, KwaMashu, Verulam and Tongaat on the freeway can expect congestion for the nine months it will take crews to complete the upgrade. The knock-on effect will also be more traffic on the N2 north and the portion of the N3 feeding into the city from ’spagetti junction’- where the two freeways intersect - as motorists try find ways around the earthworks.
|
Full Daily News report
|
|
| Green Point Stadium raises the roof - 11/02/2009 |
Green Point stadium contractors have started the process of lifting the roof of the 2010 World Cup stadium. This process has been described as a momentous milestone, building up to the event. Bush Radio reports that 72 radial cables will connect the steel compression ring that is visible above the stadium to an inner tension ring around the pitch. Work on the stadium is scheduled to be complete by 14 December this year, when it will be officially handed over by the contractors to the City of Cape Town.
|
Full Bush Radio report
|
|
| Vodacom Park nears completion – 02/02/2009 |
After many months of hard construction work, the stadium for the Confederations Cup and the 2010 World Cup is almost complete. According to a report on the News24 site, Vodacom Park in the city has been upgraded for both upcoming tournaments. When asked how far from completion the stadium is, George Mohlakoana, CEO of Mangaung 2010, said it is practically complete. He says there are very few outstanding items which will be completed during February. Mohlakoana says temporary facilities such as a stadium media centre, outside broadcasting equipment and video screens will be installed over the next few months to ensure that the stadium will be 100% ready by June.
|
Full report on the News24 site
|
|
| KZN ready for the 2010 WC – 25/01/2009 |
The construction of Durban’s Moses Mabhida Stadium in Durban is well on track and KwaZulu-Natalis ready to host the World Cup next year, Premier Sbu Ndebele said. According to a People’s Daily Online report, Ndebele said he had no doubt the stadium would not be a white elephant after the soccer tournament. ’We have no doubt that the new, more than R2 billion stadium, which will host 2010 World Cup group matches and one of the semifinals, ranks among the best sports facilities in the world.’
|
Full People’s Daily Online report
|
|
| Major delays for Cape hotel construction – 22/01/2009 |
Construction of a hotel in Cape Town with a view to the 2010 World Cup is in the balance after the premises lost its land-use rights. FIN24 reports that Jeff Underwood, director of town planning company Planning Partners, says this is only one of a number of clients tearing their hair out after their land-use rights have lapsed. Properties in the Western Cape that had been granted land-use rights before 1986, and had not yet use them, had forfeited them. The City of Cape Town and the Western Cape provincial government are urgently awaiting legal opinion to manage this situation.
|
Full FIN24 report
|
|
| Rustenberg stadium 90% complete – 22/01/2009 |
Work on the Royal Bafokeng Stadium in Rustenburg, which is to host matches for the 2009 Confederations Cup and 2010 World Cup, is 90% complete, and the stadium is expected to be ready in mid-February. ’We have done a lot of hard work in preparation of the two main soccer events that will be taking place in our stadium,’said Royal Bafokeng Sports Holdings MD George Khunou. SA Info reports that he said that the upgrading of the stadium had cost about R360m. The current seating capacity of the stadium is 39 000, but they have planned to increase it to 43 000.
|
Full SA Info report
|
|
| Work begins on OR Tambo hotel – 21/01/2009 |
City Lodge, the JSE-listed hotels operator, said that work has begun at its 305-room hotel at OR Tambo Airport, Africa’s busiest airport. City Lodge, which operates 43 hotels across South Africa offering nearly 5 000 rooms, said the hotel will be completed in April next year - two months before the 2010 World Cup kick-off. FIN24 reports that the hotel is being developed as part of a tender awarded to City Lodge Hotels last year by the Airports Company of South Africa to establish three new hotels at OR Tambo, Port Elizabeth and Bloemfontein airports.
|
Full FIN24 report
|
|
| Airport leg to be completed by December - 21/01/2009 |
Few thought they would see the day, with disputes about the R25bn cost, court battles and political infighting threatening to delay the Gautrain project indefinitely, but the government said the vital airport leg of the route will be completed as planned by the end of the year. Business Day reports that the route was a key consideration for FIFA’s acceptance of proposals from the government as Gauteng, and Johannesburg in particular, will be the hub of the 2010 World Cup. Gautrain project leader Jack van der Merwe said that physical civil engineering work and track laying between Sandton Station and OR Tambo International Airport would be completed by December.
|
Full Business Day report
|
|
| Worker killed at WC stadium site - 16/01/2009 |
A worker at the Green Point 2010 stadium has died after being hit by a truck on the construction site on Wednesday night. The tragedy has been confirmed by 2010 Local Organising Committee spokesman Jermaine Craig who conveyed the organisations sincere condolences to the man’s family.
He said the LOC was convinced that the contractor had followed the correct safety measures and the incident had been an accident. The unidentified man worked for civil engineering firm Martin and East, a sub-contractor to the Murray and Roberts/WBHO consortium which is building the stadium. In the only other fatality on a 2010 World Cup project, a worker died in an accident at the construction site of the Peter Mokaba stadium in Polokwane last August.
|
Full report on the Project 2010 site
|
|
| Cement sales expected to decrease - 14/01/2009 |
Concrete sales are likely to flatten or continue to decrease over 2009 as the product comes off record highs, say experts. This comes as the Cement & Concrete Institute said that SA cement sales fell by 4.6% in December 2008, when compared with the year to end-2007. FIN24 reports that while construction on 2010 World Cup projects, highway improvements and the Gautrain project may require cement, this cannot compensate for the decrease in private sector demand, analysts say. The private sector is the most cement-intensive, with houses requiring a lot of concrete. Other civil engineering projects such as bridges, dams and stadiums rely heavily on other materials, says Sheath.
|
Full FIN24 report
|
|
| Damaged crane delays construction – 13/01/2009 |
The Storm-damaged Mpumalanga 2010 World Cup Mbombela Stadium is yet to be repaired as authorities try to replace a damaged crane. The Sowetan reports that one of the stadium’s main contractor tower cranes collapsed on January 4 during a severe storm in Nelspruit that uprooted trees and damaged buildings and houses. ’We are struggling to replace the crane because they are in short supply,’ said 2010 co-ordinator Differ Mogale. ’We have asked for the one that was at Orlando Stadium and we hope to get it soon.’
|
Full report in The Sowetan
|
|
| Will the Gautrain be ready for 2010? - 12/01/2009 |
With less than 600 days left to go before the 2010 World Cup begins, people are beginning to take more interest in whether or not the country will be ready According to Brian Bruce, Murray and Roberts CEO, all the projects are going well. Moneyweb reports that he says there are a lot of other, peripheral projects, particularly on the road transport side, that are well on their way. The Gautrain project, however, might face a few hiccoughs, according to Bruce. ’There are some issues on Gautrain,’ he says, ’because the Gautrain project was never really intended to be completed by 2010. We have had many discussions about having it complete by 2010 but, unfortunately, to commission a complex transport system, like a rapid rail link, partially has all types of implications.’
|
Full Moneyweb report
|
|
| Storm damage at WC stadium site – 07/01/2009 |
A major storm has toppled a crane and caused other damage at the construction site of Nelspruit’s 2010 World Cup stadium. The storm which has also affected large parts of KwaZulu-Natal, uprooted trees and damaged buildings in Mpumalanga’s capital city. Several precast seating beams were either destroyed or damaged and some brick work at the Mbombela Stadium was also damaged. However, city spokesman Ronny Moyo described the damage to the stadium as minor and would not affect the scheduled December deadline for the stadium’s completion. He said a replacement crane would come from the Orlando Stadium in Soweto which has already been completed. Meanwhile, the weather bureau has warned that more storms are expected within the next 48 hours.
|
Full report on the Project 2010 site
|
|
| A boost for Gansbaai - 07/01/2009 |
A new tarred road that will improve access to Gansbaai is set to dramatically increase tourism to the quiet seaside town and benefit the local property market. Property24 reports that the new road, currently under construction, will cut the distance between Gansbaai and Cape Agulhas by more than 50%, says Ewald Langeveld of the local Aida office.’Gansbaai has been identified as a growth point along this stretch of coastline and a new soccer and sport stadium that will be used by international teams to prepare for the 2010 World Cup is under construction,’ he added.
|
Full Property24 report
|
|
| Outlook not so rosy for 2009 - 07/01/2009 |
Record order books are expected to help South African construction stocks maintain decent earnings growth in the new year, but beyond that the future is uncertain as the global credit crisis eats up future work opportunities. The Times reports that South Africa’s big four construction firms boast a combined R120bn order book, thanks to the phenomenal construction growth in South Africa in the lead-up to the 2010 World Cup, as well as developments in other markets. While these order books will certainly build up construction groups’ coffers, the global economic slowdown which is expected to deepen this year may open floodgates of project cancellations and delays.
|
Full report in The Times
|
|
| |
 |
|
 
|
page [
1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9
]
|
 
|
|
|
|
|
|
| |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
CALL US
+27 (0)21-4216297
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| |
