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.