| Group 5 ready to start operating in Zimbabwe - 11/08/2008 |
The construction and engineering firm Group Five is ready to start operating in Zimbabwe if the political situation is resolved, the firm’s CE said. ’We have a company registered there. It’s been dormant for a while, but certainly we’re ready to go into Zimbabwe,’ said CE Mike Upton. FIN24 reports that construction firms like Group Five, Murray & Roberts and Aveng have benefited from an infrastructure boom in Africa’s biggest economy driven in part by development ahead of the 2010 World Cup, which has helped them shrug off a broader economic slowdown. Upton said Group Five was focusing on growing its business in commodities, oil and gas in Africa’s private sector. The company operates in more than 18 countries on the continent, which contribute a third of its construction revenue.
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Full FIN24 report
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| Focus on brand image ahead of 2010 - 09/08/2008 |
The importance of brand image has come to the construction industry ahead of 2010 with the construction boom going ahead full steam and construction companies making good profits to reinvest in their future. According to a CBN report, construction companies are investing in their outdoor brand image by formalising their logos and using the extensive high profile their strategic sites to convey their brand to their customers and target markets. Reshaping their logos and making them more iconic for single colour printing and to make them visible and instantly recognisable from a distance. South Africa’s construction and infrastructure sector is the fastest-growing economic sector. It is is expected to continue beyond 2010. Whilst construction of support structures for the 2010 World Cup is cited as catalyst for the boom, future growth will be driven by investment-related activity such as power generation, road infrastructure and water-related investments by the public sector.
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Full CBN report
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| Mthatha stadium construction kicks off - 06/08/2008 |
The long-awaited construction of the Mthatha stadium for the 2010 World Cup has finally begun. The Times reports that graders have started levelling the ground and construction of the 35000-seater stadium is expected to be completed by March 2010, with the King Sabata Dalindyebo (KSD) Municipality bidding to become a base city for the football showpiece. But persistent problems surrounding the land on which the stadium is being built could hamper its progress. The community of Zimbane, who are claiming ownership of the land, have on previous occasions interdicted KSD from building on the site. The deadlock ended last month when both parties agreed that construction should go ahead while they negotiated a settlement and possible compensation.
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Full report in The Times
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| Will strike impact on 2010 projects? - 06/08/2008 |
It unclear how today’s national strike will impact on SA’s 2010 World Cup stadium construction projects, but many industries are expected to grind to a halt. The Congress of SA Trade Unions has vowed to mobilise two million members as it embarks on the national strike against rising food, electricity and fuel prices. It said there was a danger of retrenchments in the mining sector and elsewhere due to Eskom’s decision to reduce electricity supply to industrial consumers. Demonstrations will be held in the Western Cape, Northern Cape, Free State, Eastern Cape, Gauteng, KwaZulu-Natal and Mpumalanga. Although most of the 2010 stadiums are on track, labour disputes have impacted on the Mbombela (Mpumulanga) and Peter Mokaba (Limpopo) projects.
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Full report on the Project 2010 site
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| Infrastructural activity gains momentum - 06/08/2008 |
Infrastructural activity is gaining momentum, with civil engineering contracts valued at R17bn awarded in the second quarter of this year compared with about R2.5bn in same period for 2001. According to Business Report, Peter Steyn, the general manager of construction and infrastructure at Absa Corporate and Business Bank, said that the expansion in the construction and infrastructure sector had outstripped the pace of the country’s GDP growth since 2000 and was expected to do so until 2015 and beyond. The construction industry had achieved a compound growth rate of 10% a year compared with 4% GDP growth since 2000, he said. Steyn stressed that the boom in construction would be broad-based and would extend beyond the 2010 World Cup.
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Full story in Business Report
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| R1.7bn facelift for Sandton City - 05/08/2008 |
Liberty Properties Development - a division of Liberty Properties Group - announces a R1.77bn refurbishment of the landmark Sandton City Complex, the most iconic retail facilities in Africa and the Southern Hemisphere. This initiative comprises a 30 000m˛ extension which will take the complex to a massive 158 000m˛ gross lettable area. According to a Real Estate Web report, the refurbishment will contribute significantly to job creation and BEE development. It will commence end of 2008 and is scheduled for completion early 2012. The main construction contract has not yet been awarded and is in the tender stage, and will include a 60% BEE participation target with mandatory use of SME and joint venture BEE entities to ensure skills transfer. The work schedule will accommodate the expected increase of visitors during the 2010 World Cup.
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Full Real Estate Web report
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| Stadium upgrade creates 400 jobs - 03/08/2008 |
Over 400 construction jobs have been created by upgrading the Free State Stadium for both the 2009 and 2010 football tournaments. BuaNews reports that a total of R4.5m has been paid out to the 400 construction workers on-site to date since the upgrading began in 2007. Speaking on-site, Free State Stadium Project Manager Tykes Govender said the stadium was being upgraded from a 38 000 capacity stadium to a stadium with a seating capacity of 45 000, at cost of R252m. According to CE of Mangaung 2010, George Mohlakoana, work is currently progressing well, despite challenges relating to longer site establishment due to unknown services, rainfall, and labour-related strikes.
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Full BuaNews report
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| Constructing a solid 2010 - 02/08/2008 |
Emerging construction entrepreneur Joseph Tshawe is looking forward to the 2010 World Cup, especially the activities that will be held at Loftus Versfeld Stadium. City Press reports that his work – as the largest contractor in the R100m refurbishment of the stadium – will be on display. But it could have turned out very differently if the Industrial Development Corporation (IDC) had not leapt to the rescue of his company, which struggled to raise funding after winning the contract. Tshawe’s company, Homeless Building Construction, is one of seven construction firms awarded the R100m tender in May to renovate the Pretoria stadium. But the reluctance by commercial banks to finance the construction firm nearly led to it losing its share of the spoils, as it was entitled to work amounting to R55m of the R100m tender.
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Full City Press report
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| Continued growth for construction industry - 01/08/2008 |
The current growth in the local and international engineering, civils and construction markets is expected to continue despite the current volatility experienced in world economic markets, reports the South African Association of Consulting Engineers (Saace). Engineering News reports that Saace CE Graham Pirie says that even though the local infrastructure roll-out programme and the infrastructure investments from emerging markets such as China were initiated before the period of global market volatility, infrastructure builds cannot be halted as they are vital to the economic growth of countries. ’Government’s commitment of R500bn, in addition to the money invested in the 2010 World Cup stadiums, to be spent over three years, means that 2010 is a small component of a larger investment that government is encouraging,’ said Pirie.
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Full Engineering News report
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| Orlando Stadium nears completion - 01/08/2008 |
Orlando Stadium is breath-taking, says Alfred Lentsoane, the legendary mid-fielder who played for Moroka Swallows in the 1970s and early 1980s. ’(The new stadium) is wonderful. It’s top-class. I wish I had played in such a stadium during my heyday,’ said Lentsoane. The 56-year-old Lentsoane was among the Soccer Legends invited on a tour of the stadium to check on progress at the landmark venue. Executive Mayor Amos Masondo led the tour, bringing along members of his mayoral council. Orlando Stadium is one of the training venues for the 2010 World Cup. The original stadium was demolished in 2006 to make way for a bigger, more aesthetically appealing facility, with seating for 45 000.
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Full press release
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| 2010 upgrade for Harry Gwala - 01/08/2008 |
Maritzburg United will continue to use the centrally-situated Woodburn Stadium for its PSL matches in the up-coming season. Confirming this, club boss Farouk Kadodia disclosed that the Harry Gwala currently undergoing an upgrade for the 2010 World Cup and that United had receive permission from the Premier League to go ahead and use Woodburn Stadium which is currently used for rugby matches. ’The facilities at Woodburn have been okayed by the PSL, and we will be using it as our base from the end of September,’ Kadodia says in a report in the Natal Witness.
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Full report in The Witness
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| Upgrade within budget and on schedule - 31/07/2008 |
While most 2010 World Cup stadium construction and upgrade projects in SA have overspent their budgets , training ground Orlando Stadium has kept within its R280m budget. City of Johannesburg authorities said all the material for the stadium was bought long before the prices increased. ’We bought all the material in 2006 and kept it on site. What we couldn’t accommodate, like the roof, we found alternative storage space for,’ said Deon Venter, the city’s official in the community development department. Business Day reports that Johannesburg mayor Amos Masondo said price increase projections were conducted even before contracts for the construction of the stadium were signed, as escalations were expected. The stadium will be used as a training venue during the tournament.
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Full Business Day report
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| FNB Stadium on target for completion - 29/07/2008 |
Looking across the vast assembly of containers in red dust and the concrete tiers surrounding it, it is hard to believe that the sprawling construction site below is Soweto’s FNB Stadium and that it will be ready to host the 2010 World Cup opening ceremony. But the stadium is on target for completion ’well before the FIFA deadline’ of December 2009, says Stan Aarts, technical manager of the joint-venture team behind the reconstruction of the stadium. Aarts points out the ’old’ stadium was almost entirely hollowed out, so that it could measure up to FIFA’s stringent requirements and incorporate the necessary upgrades. Ultimately the building is intended to look like an ’African calabash, on a ring of fire’. According to a Mail & Guardian Online report, this vision, however, will be realised only when the enormous new roof, along with 38 000 square metres of cladding, surrounding the structure is in place.
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Full Mail & Guardian Online report
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| Cost increase approved - 25/07/2008 |
The Nelson Mandela Bay municipal council has approved a R15m increase on the 2010 multi-purpose stadium. The decision was taken at yesterday’s council meeting. Municipal manager Graham Richards said the budget approved for the 2007/08 financial year relating to the stadium amounted to R75.5-million. Spokesman Roland Williams said the municipality was awaiting a response from the 2010 local organising committee over the loss of its host city status for the Confederations Cup next year. It had written to contest the decision.
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Full report in The Herald
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| Petroline still targeting 2010 deadline - 25/07/2008 |
Despite delays to the start of construction, privately owned Petroline was still hoping to deliver its crucial petroleum products pipeline from Maputo to Nelspruit around the time of the 2010 World Cup, MD Johan de Vos told Engineering News. By this time, a recent report showed that there would be one 40 000 l petrol truck leaving South Africa’s ports for inland areas every 5.2 minutes, owing to the shortage of piping infrastructure. The company was still working to secure environmental approval, with which it had made ’very good progress’, and was putting in effort to prepare for a swift start to construction once it had final the authorisations. ’We are still optimistic that we will be there in the first half of 2010,’ said De Vos.
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Full Engineering News report
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| 2010 stadia well on schedule - 24/07/2008 |
Johannesburg’s two key stadiums for the 2010 World Cup - Soccer City and Ellis Park - are well on schedule and will be completed within predicted timeframes. Ellis Park will be ready well in advance of the FIFA Confederations Cup South Africa 2009 taking place next June. It is expected the stadium will be completed in November 2008. Soccer City will be finished in May 2009. ’We are very happy with the progress on Ellis Park and on Soccer City. It’s really exciting to see how fast things are moving. Every time I visit the stadiums progress is visible,’ confirmed Sibongile Mazibuko, the City’s executive director for 2010. Construction has not been without its hitches. At the Ellis Park site, work has to be co-ordinated as the stadium is in continued use. Areas have to be made safe for public use and some of the work has to be done during window periods when no sporting activities are taking place at the stadium.
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Full press release ?
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| Bad news for Botswana - 22/07/2008 |
The 2010 World Cup, which is supposed to be good news for Botswana, is actually very bad news. On the basis of a construction boom and a resultant rise in prices of building materials in South Africa, the cost for building four senior secondary schools in Botswana has more than doubled. The Sunday Standard reports that the rise in cost is a result of the construction boom in South Africa which is preparing for the 2010 World Cup. Generally, the continent is experiencing the greatest construction boom since the 1970s. This boom has pushed up prices of building materials and even in South Africa some companies have had to import cement. This boom has very bad news for Botswana which imports virtually all such materials from South Africa. The boom also happens at a time when oil prices are on a one-way trip skywards. A major construction project that has been delayed and scaled down is that of the National Stadium in Gaborone because it would have gone more than 100% over budget.
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Full Sunday Standard report
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| Workers down tools again - 220/7/2008 |
Construction is once again at a standstill at the Peter Mokaba Sport Complex in Polokwane. It’s for the fourth time that the workers downed tools in demand of bonuses. Workers who are being retrenched and transferred to other construction sites claim the contractor – WBOH - only paid them half the bonuses agreed upon. The SABC reports that talks between the two parties deadlocked, and despite saying it cannot afford any further delays, WBHO says it will not go into talks unless construction resumes as the strike is illegal. The stadium is expected be completed by June next year, just months before the start of the 2010 World Cup.
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Full SABC report ?
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| Building industry outlook bleak - 17/07/2008 |
Declining confidence levels among both the residential and non-residential building contractors suggest that the building industry may continue to see a significant slowdown in demand in the coming months, which does not bode well for the overall building industry. FIN24 reports that this negative outlook, particularly regarding the residential building industry, will continue to be driven by the upward cycle of interest rates. The probability that rates will increase again in August and October is set to further exacerbate the pressure on the industry. With regard to the non-residential building sector, the negative impact of rising interest rates and input costs is likely to be counterbalanced, to some extent, by the build-up to the 2010 World Cup.
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Full FIN24 report
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| Mthatha stadium construction gets under way - 16/07/2008 |
Construction of an artificial football pitch at the rotary stadium in Mthatha began this week and is expected to be completed by September. According to a report on the IoL site, head of the legacy programme of the 2010 organising committee, Tumi Dlamini was quoted in the statement as saying that the artificial pitch would bring growth and development to South Africa. ’Social legacy is the end goal for the 2010 World Cup and the installation of the artificial turf in Mthatha is a major step towards ensuring that 2010 brings about significant contribution to the growth and development of football in our country,’ Dlamini said. FNB executive Bennet Mdebuka said the bank was constructing the pitch to ensure that the World Cup touched the lives of thousands of people.
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Full report on the IoL site ?
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| R145m facelift for transport infrastructure - 16/07/2008 |
The City of Polokwane has allocated R145m in the next 12 months to upgrade the transport infrastructure in the area ahead of the 2010 World Cup. ’We want to have state-of-the-art road infrastructure as one of the World Cup legacy projects,’ said Ndavhe Ramakuela, Polokwane’s 2010 World Cup director. ’The transport infrastructure deals with all the road networks. We have already started with the process of upgrading around the city. After the construction of the stadium, which is also well on track despite the recent labour strike, transport will be next big project for us ahead of the World Cup,’ he added. The Sowetan reports that Ramakuela said they will also use the World Cup to promote the use of public transport to ease the anticipated traffic congestion in the city.
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Full report in The Sowetan ?
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| Soccer City stadium taking shape - 11/07/2008 |
Joburg’s Soccer City stadium is steadily taking shape amid concerns about Fifa’s ’plan B’ should South Africa not be in a position to host the 2010 World Cup. Fifa general secretary Jerome Valcke was visibly excited on Wednesday when he caught a glimpse of the construction progress at the country’s World Cup flagship stadium, which will host both the opening and closing ceremonies. ’It’s a huge and beautiful stadium,’ said Valcke, flanked by the stadium’s project manager, Mike Moody, and 2010 local organising committee chief Danny Jordaan. ’The spectators will watch matches in the best conditions’ Perched on the newly erected southern grandstand, where he enjoyed a panoramic view of the stadium, Valcke said he was very happy with the progress. ’The spectators will watch matches in the best conditions,’ he said as he looked at the sparkling orange seats on the western upper tier and eastern lower embankment.
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Full report on IOL site
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| Nelson Mandela Bay refuses to quit - 11/07/2008 |
The Nelson Mandela Metropolitan Municipality will continue to try to persuade the Local Organising Committee (LOC) to reverse its decision to exclude Port Elizabeth as a host venue for next year’s FIFA Confederations Cup. Of the five venues for the cup, Port Elizabeth would have been the only newly built venue. Eastern Cape 2010 manager, Gogo Mankqoyi, says they were caught by surprise by the LOC’s decision. Yet Mankoyi is hopeful that the stadium will be ready for the World Cup games in 2010. Yesterday’s decision by the LOC has also caught the business community of the city off guard. The Confederations Cup is seen as the dress rehearsal for the 2010 Soccer World Cup. Now this crucial cog in the build-up to the showcase event is lost to Port Elizabeth. Lost revenue for the city is expected to amount to millions of rands. The Port Elizabeth Regional Chamber of Commerce and Industry is also backing the municipality with regard to the readiness of the stadium and keeping with deadlines.
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Full SABC report
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| Roof set to arrive next month - 09/07/2008
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The roof of the new Green Point Stadium in Cape Town, a venue for the 2010 World Cup finals, will be delivered from Kuwait next month. Peter Cronje, the city’s World Cup communications director, said the construction of the roof will begin shortly after the arrival of the components. Cronje said the first of the 72 columns set to support the state-of-the-art roof structure has reached its maximum height. The Sowetan reports that the roof is designed in such a way that noise will be reflected back into the stadium, which will come as a relief to a handful of community members who are against the construction of the facility.
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Full report in The Sowetan
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| PE axed from Confederations Cup - 08/07/2008
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Organisers of the 2010 World Cup axed Port Elizabeth from the list of venues which will stage next year’s Confederations Cup after delays to stadium construction. According to a report on the News24 site, the decision was made after a report compiled by a technical team which said the stadium, one of 10 which are due to stage matches in the 2010 tournament, would likely miss a deadline in March next year for health and safety tests. ’We acknowledge the progress that has been made on the Nelson Mandela Bay/Port Elizabeth stadium in recent months,’ Irvin Khoza, chair of the LOC, said. ’With the complex nature of the construction and erection of the roof of the stadium, however, it was decided that it would be too high a risk to keep the stadium in the Confederations Cup schedule.’
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Full report on the News24 site
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| Smaller contractors feeling the pinch - 07/07/2008 |
Smaller contractors might pull out of 2010 World Cup projects because of ’dramatically’ rising costs caused by increasing building material prices, fuel prices and interest rates, experts have warned. Colin de Kock, executive director of the Gauteng Master Builders’ Association, said contractors, especially the smaller ones, were feeling the pinch. Business Day reports that he said most of the material used in 2010 projects was imported and prices had gone up because of global demand. De Kock said none of the contractors would have foreseen such increases when their contracts were signed. The World Cup is set to cost the government R3bn more than the planned R9.8bn.
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Full Business Day report
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| Valcke and Jordaan visit Loftus - 06/07/2008 |
FIFA Secretary General, Jérome Valcke and 2010 LOC CE Danny Jordaan visited Loftus Versfeld stadium in Tshwane on Sunday. The SABC reports that they were accompanied by members of Tshwane’s organising committee. Construction at Loftus Versfeld now takes priority. The stadium has to ready for the Confederations Cup in 2009 and the World Cup in 2010. The Tshwane Metro Council admits that construction at Loftus is slightly behind schedule, but says it is nothing to worry about. Construction has to be finished by December this year and compared with other stadia around the country, there is not much work left to be done.
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Full SABC report
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| PE role-players confident of meeting deadlines - 06/07/2008 |
With 700 days to go until World Cup 2010 kick-off, South Africa has fewer than 500 working days left to complete preparations, but Nelson Mandela Bay officials are confident of meeting all deadlines.
The Bay’s Fifa World Cup directorate says it has every confidence the event will be a success – as long as no ’acts of God’ interfere. Local organising committee executive director Errol Heynes said although the construction of the stadium was on a tight schedule, everything was on track to have the mammoth structure in North End finished on time. And at a recent 2010 stakeholders forum meeting, Mzukisi Skade from the Nelson Mandela Bay municipality’s 2010 office, said the bulk of the construction would be completed by December this year.
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Full Weekend Post report
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| Green light for Camps Bay development - 04/07/2008
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’The Crystal’ development at Camps Bay has been given the ’green light’ for building work to commence. This luxury development, consisting of 41 apartments, is located in Woodford Road just below Camps Bay Drive. Contrary to current market trends, this high end development has been attracting good sales over the past few months. The Property Magazine reports that it has been confirmed that the demand for such units in the Camps Bay area has continued to outstrip expectations and daily rentals in peak season will be in the region of R2 000 to R3 000 per day. Off-peak season rentals are also showing strong growth and the World Cup 2010 tournament will create a peak of its own, says Johannes Barnard, MD of A-Property Sales.
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Full report in The Property Magazine
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| Construction costs continue to soar - 04/07/2008
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Escalating construction costs significantly impacted the infrastructure upgrades of the Airports Company of South Africa (Acsa), and the envisaged spend of R19.3bn between 2008 and 2012 had already risen by almost 14% to around R22bn, owing largely to unprecedented inflation in building material costs. Acsa CE Monhla Hlahla stated that Acsa’s 2008 planned infrastructure spend was R3.8bn for its nine airports in South Africa, but the actual spend would be in the region of R4.4bn for the year. Engineering News reports that passenger numbers are expected to peak in 2010 with the World Cup. ’We are confident we will achieve these passenger numbers in 2010 - unless there is a major global crisis,’ added Hlahla.
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Full Engineering News report
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