Transnet port terminals has started work on a R4,2bn construction programme to nearly double the capacity at the Cape Town container terminal by 2012

Health facilities need to have positive, healing environments

The past year has seen the Cape Town Central City developing at a rapid pace

City of Cape Town officials are hopeful that the strike by construction workers at the 2010 soccer stadium in Green Point will soon be over.

All work stopped at the site last Wednesday when about 1000 workers employed by contractors Murray & Roberts and WBHO went on strike over a travel allowance.

The council's director 2010: technical, Dave Hugo, told Sapa on Tuesday the city was awaiting the outcome of a midday meeting between the contractors and union representatives over a shuttle service for workers.

A new drop-off and pick-up point close to Cape Town station had been proposed, and he was hopeful this would prove acceptable to workers.

"We've had no feedback as yet, but expect to do so during the afternoon," Hugo said.

It is understood that if the contractors provide a shuttle service for workers -- the site is about 2km from the station -- the travel allowance payment requirement will fall away.

Hugo said the stoppage, now in its fourth working day, was unlikely to set back the completion date for the 68,000-seater stadium.

"We can make the time up, working extra hours and weekends," he said.

Construction group Wilson Bayly Holmes Ovcom (WBHO) on Monday reported 512.1 cents in headline earnings per share (HEPS) for the year ended June compared with 351.7 cents a year ago.

A final dividend of 85 cents per share (2006: 54 cents) has been declared which, together with the interim dividend of 36 cents per share, gives a total dividend of 121 cents for the year - up from 81 cents a year ago.

Revenue rose 40.3% to 8.1 billion rand and operating profit surged 58.6% to 415.8 million rand.

The group's building and civil division, which plays a major role in preparing the country for the 2010 Fifa World Cup, increased turnover by 31% from 4.4 billion rand to 5.7 billion rand in 2007. Operating profit increased by 47% to 222 million rand.

"We are partners in joint ventures which have been awarded contracts for the construction of the King Shaka International Airport, as well as the soccer stadia in Durban, Cape Town and Polokwane. Because of the early stages of these contracts no profits have been recognised in these accounts," the company said.

In addition, the group is engaged in major works at OR Tambo International Airport as well as the construction of shopping centres, office and apartment blocks and hospitals throughout the country.

It has recently been awarded in joint venture the One and Only Hotel in the Cape Town Waterfront.

However, in Australia, turnover has been relatively flat compared to 2006, but Probuild Constructions nevertheless increased profits by 11%, the company noted.

"There are indications that the market is improving in Melbourne and the order book is at a reasonable level," the group said.

Basic Constructions, the group's cvil engineering company in Brisbane, experienced a busy year with turnover increasing by 22%.

"Our activities in Sydney also showed significant growth and we have strengthened our foothold in this large but competitive market," the company said.

The road and earth works division's turnover of 1.9 billion rand was 61% higher than last year. Operating profit increased by 7% from 71 million rand to 76 million rand but with margins declining from 6.1% to 4%.

"Work for the mining sector has increased, providing good opportunities for additional work for the division. The division is also contracting in the DRC, Ghana, Zambia and other SADC countries," the group said.

Looking ahead, the group said its outlook for the construction industry remained positive with prospects for new work more likely to arise in the civil engineering sector than in the building sector.

"We believe we are well placed to benefit from this shift in the industry," the group said.

The company is starting the 2008 financial year with an order book of 10.6 billion rand ? from 6.1 billion rand last year.

"The nature of our order book has changed with a greater number of large contracts spread over longer time periods," the group said.

Port Elizabeth has stepped up the construction pace of its World Cup stadium – to the extent that the project is now on schedule

Airports Company SA (Acsa) said yesterday that it would spend R19,3bn over the next five years to expand the capacity of its airport infrastructure.

In its largest property development finance deal to date, Nedbank Corporate Property Finance has provided Melrose Arch Development Company with in excess of R1 billion for the development of the Melrose Arch Piazza Scheme

The new National Credit Act may be having a dampening effect on the rampant demand for cement in the country, according to PPC CEO John Gomersall.

"Demand from residential developers is slowing, the banks' conditions are tighter they're not giving 100% bonds anymore," he says, adding that PPC anticipated last year that this could precipitate a slowdown in cement demand.

This, he says, has reduced to some extent the necessity for PPC to import cement to keep its customers supplied.

Gomersall is visibly annoyed by suggestions that the country is experiencing cement shortages and claims that those who voice opinions on looming cement shortages are speaking from ignorance.

He says large projects such as the Gautrain and Eskom power stations will not use as much cement as everyone believes, and that the quantity needed will be spread over a number of years, while cement production will be growing incrementally.

"I still think cement demand will grow at a compound 6%/year until at least 2014, but I am not sure there will be an equivalent 6% growth in skills over that same period," says Gomersall.

"I'm talking about the managerial and engineering skills needed to design, tender, contract and manage projects."

Asked about an investigation into building material prices alluded to by President Thabo Mbeki in a TV interview last week, Gomersall says he has not heard of any such investigation.

He says cement is a cyclical commodity, and it's important in the up-cycle that those who take the risk and invest large sums of money in new capital equipment should be rewarded.

He says the reason PPC's accounts look so good is that the group's assets are depreciated to a value of about R2 billion on the balance sheet but the insurance value of these assets is closer to R16 billion.

In the six months to March the group reflected an operating margin of 38% on revenue of R2,6 billion, one percentage point lower than the previous year.

"The retailers say they would love margins that look like that, but they can't have them because they haven't made the capital investments," he says.

Cement demand grew 12% last year, outstripping the 8% projection and exceeding forecasts for a third year in a row.

But the feeling at PPC is that it is unlikely to be as high this year. Chief operating officer Orrie Fenn says demand in Cape Town has dropped steeply.

The group hopes to have its R4bn empowerment transaction completed by September, "broad-based with staff participation", says Gomersall.

A 15% equity stake will be transferred.

Earlier this month, Barloworld said that for every one share held in Barloworld, shareholders would get the equivalent of 1,8555 PPC shares in the unbundling of PPC.

On Monday the PPC shares also started trading after a 10-for-one split, part of the restructuring exercise and meant to encourage liquidity.

Gomersall says he does not expect the split to create much change in the two share registers - though there there may be some shorting of the shares.

PPC closed up 90c at R52 after its first day after the unbundling.

Prime SA office rents broke through R120/m2 early this year for the first time ever. But tenants, reeling under the rapid rise, have more pain ahead of them.