2008/08/02
A MULTI-million rand East London beachfront development, which has been dragging on for over a year, could possibly take off in October.
The Buffalo City Development Agency (BCDA) awarded a lucrative tender to the Nepad Development Consortium last year, to develop a 31000m² piece of land next to the Holiday Inn. The selling price for the land was set at R34.5million.
The proposed Marina Glen development is worth R800m and includes the construction of a hotel, apartments and a shopping centre at the East London beachfront.
But the sod-turning ceremony is yet to take place, as the project has suffered a number of setbacks due to “technical aspects”.
The consortium has also been plagued by rumours of infighting and claims that they did not have the necessary capital to proceed with the development.
It is also understood that East London company Real People, has given financial injection to the project.
But neither party was prepared to comment yesterday. BCDA chief executive officer Siphiwo Mdila said the latest stumbling block in getting the project off the ground was a moratorium placed on the supply of bulk electricity by Eskom. On May 9, the consortium and affected parties signed the final Deed of Sale. The next step was to sign the service agreement and transfer the purchase price to the agency’s legal representatives, Smith Tabata Buchanan Boyes.
Once the transfer of the money has been finalised, the land would be transferred to the developers.
But according to Mdila, they could not proceed without consent from Eskom to supply electricity for the development. “There was no way in which Buffalo City could sign that (service) agreement and commit itself without Eskom,” he said. Eskom was apparently unable to supply Nepad with its electricity requirements, and t he service agreement had to be redrafted. The developers came up with a proposal that electricity be supplied in stages over the next two years.
This proposal was approved and the service agreement will be signed by next week. “At least now that there is clarity on the Eskom aspect, let’s now kick-start the process. Once it (service agreement) has been signed, then the transfer can be finalised,” said Mdila. A spokesperson for the consortium said they had been confronted with a number of delays.
But he added that they were now ready to move forward with the project as soon as they have been given the green light. Eskom did not respond to queries by time of going to print.
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