Malaysian, S. African firms sign property deal

Malaysian, S. African firms sign property deal

KUALA LUMPUR (AFP): Malaysian and South African firms signed agreements here Saturday covering property, infrastructure and banking projects worth over US$1 billion as part of President Nelson Mandela's business-oriented state visit.

Malaysian developer ABI Construction Sdn. Bhd. signed an agreement with South Africa's Trakprops 31 Pty. Ltd. to carry out a mixed property development in Capetown with a project cost estimated at one billion dollars.

ABI Construction Managing Director Mohd Zahari Abd Rahman said the project would be carried out over a five-year period.

A new joint-venture company called Trackprop will be established with ABI Construction holding 51 percent and the South African firm the rest.

The signing was witnessed by Mandela and Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad, whose government has aggressively promoted Malaysian investments in South Africa, now totaling over $3 billion.

Mohd Zahari told reporters after the signing that the new company would initially be active in greater Cape Town and the Western Cape.

In another agreement, a consortium of Malaysian companies led by Permodalan YBK Sdn. Bhd. teamed up with Plestel (M) Sdn. Bhd., a Malaysian subsidiary of South Africa's Plessey group, an international telecommunication company.

The Malaysian consortium, called Jaringan Infrastruktur Sdn Bhd. (JISB), has appointed the South African firm as the turnkey contractor for the development of a common ducting system for the use of telecommunication operators in the central Malaysian state of Selangor.

JISB's Executive Chairman Kamarudin Ahmad said the value of the five-year project was 150 million ringgit, adding that Plessey would transfer technology in the field of telecommunication engineering and information technology.

In the third agreement, Killinghall (Malaysia) Bhd. (KMB) signed an agreement with the South African National Empowerment Trust Investment Fund Pty. Ltd. (NETIF) to start a new bank called Southern Bank of Africa Ltd.

Each side would invest 30 million ringgit under the 50-50 venture.

NETIF is an investment holding company wholly owned by South Africa's National Empowerment Trust, which invests assets with the principal objective of promoting black business and entrepreneurship.

Mandela on Saturday cited Malaysia's efforts in granting preferential treatment to its Malay majority, which he said had similarities with his own efforts to improve the plight of South Africa's impoverished blacks.