Water for Golf

Lack of water is again threatening the proposed R1-billion Roodefontein golf estate in Plettenberg Bay

BITOU'S executive mayoral committee has given developers, the aptly named Plettenberg Bay Golf Estate, until the end of this month to come up with an alternative plan on where the water is going to come from for the project, which has been mired in controversy since it was first mooted almost a decade ago.

Mayoral committee approval of a rezoning application is all that is still required before work can start on the golf estate, following final environmental approval granted by the W-Cape government in April last year.

The 400-hectare estate will include a Jack Nicklaus signature golf course, 440 housing units, an equestrian centre, a health centre consisting of hydro spa and gymnasium, a 10-bedroom lodge and a private nature reserve.

When they pitched the project to the municipality earlier this year, the developers said they had paid R11-million for shares in two companies with rights to abstract 700-000m³ of water a year from the Keurbooms River.

The full amount would be ceded to the municipality in exchange for 180 000m³ of potable water for the housing development and 380-000m³ of treated effluent for irrigating the golf course.

Mayor Lulama Mvimbi however says that due to the drought, the water the developers intend drawing from the Keurbooms "no longer exists".

Mvimbi told the last mayoral committee meeting at the end of March that the developers had one month to come up with an alternative water plan for the golf estate, failing which the development could be shelved - to the detriment on hundreds of new jobs and millions of rands in potential tourism income for the Plettenberg Bay region.

Other benefits for the region include a R6.8-million pledge by the developers towards the construction of 80 low-cost houses in Kranshoek, Kwanokuthula and possibly New Horizons as part of the social responsibility aspect of the deal.

Former land owner Count Riccardo Agusta was the first to submit an application to create a luxury golf estate at Roodefontein, but the project came to a halt in a blizzard of controversy in 2003 when he admitted before the Cape High Court that he had bribed Western Cape politicians with R400-000 to approve the development - despite a shortage of water.

Then provincial premier Peter Marais was eventually acquitted of corruption charges, but his former environmental MEC, David Malatsi, was found guilty and sentenced to five years' imprisonment. Malatsi's appeal is still pending.

The trial of the two politicians heard that Agusta's acquaintance, alleged mafia kingpin Vito Palazzolo, sold the land to Agusta and played a key role in driving the planned development forward.

A South African consortium bought the land from Agusta in 2004 and instituted a fresh application.

Richard Saner, a spokesman for the new developers, earlier said 800 to 1000 workers would be employed on site for a period of five years from the time construction started.

Saner failed to respond to a CXPRESS request to comment on the mayoral committee's demand for a back-up water plan.

- CXpress