THE proposed R1.5-billion Hanglip Golf Estate along the Wittedrift road on the outskirts of Plettenberg Bay inches closer towards becoming a reality, as indicated by approval of its latest rezoning application.
After what appeared to be an abrupt change of heart by MEC Pierre Uys of the Department of Environmental Affairs & Development Planning (DEA&DP), to approve the initially denied Guide Plan application on December 24 last year, the area earmarked for the development has now received the go-ahead to be rezoned by Bitou Municipality, before receiving approval for the environmental Record of Decision (ROD).
Confirmed during a March 9 Bitou mayoral committee meeting, the decision to rezone the area from agricultural to township development before the ROD has been issued, has been hailed by legal experts as highly unconventional.
But the municipality claims that the process is taking place within legal parameters.
Says Bitou town planner Ludolph Gericke: "This is not common practice, but it is also not against the law. The municipality has an obligation to look at the environment independently of the DEA&DP."
The proposed Hanglip Estate - said to be the biggest foreign investment development in the Southern Cape - will be undertaken by Maponya Developments and a consortium of True Motives 46, a South African company owned by main shareholders of MWB in London.
The development, to be situated on 1086 hectares of existing farmland, forest and fynbos in the Bitou Valley, consists of 720 houses, a five-star hotel, a golf course and polo field, as well as a separate village featuring a commercial centre, offices, apartments, a school and community hall.
At present the development is still in the planning stages and the Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) has yet to be approved, leaving some room for public appeal.
"There is nothing the EIA does not comply with - our English partners made sure we went the extra mile in this regard," says Maponya Developments director Neil Lurie.
Environmentalists are not satisfied, though, and are calling for the DEA&DP to seriously consider the environmental impact on the area and surrounds.
According to Garden Route Initiative's critical biodiversity areas map, Hanglip - which has been identified as a priority corridor by the Eden to Addo Corridor Initiative in conjunction with SANParks - is listed as a critical biodiversity area.
"If this development goes ahead it will make a mockery of our environmental legislation and international organisations such as the Critical Ecosystem Partnership Fund in Washington, who have invested in the Bitou Corridor and newly proclaimed Garden Route National Park," says Eden to Addo director Joan Berning.
Although the developers have promised to rehabilitate certain areas of the Bitou River wetlands, their focus seems to be humanitarian and Maponya Developments have insisted that, as a condition of the ROD, a house to the value of R80 000 be built on municipal designated land, for every house that is sold in Hanglip Estate.
"Houses will also be built in the estate for the top echelons of municipal staff," says Lurie, who is confident that jobs created during the building process would be sustained afterwards for maintenance purposes.
Bitou Town planner Ludolph Gericke
Contact Details: Mobile: 083 461 9941.
Email: lgericke@plett.gov.za.
Related links -
Hanglip development: public interest trashed the sake of some municipality staff
http://news.propertyplettenberg.com/
Hat-Tip Sara
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