By Guy Rogers

Developers have been denied permission to go ahead with the multi-million rand Madiba Bay Leisure Park along Marine Drive in Port Elizabeth.

Leon Els, regional director of economic development and environmental affairs, confirmed yesterday the application had “not been approved”.

In line with a decision taken last year to fast- track delays on prominent projects, the Madiba Bay environmental impact assessment (EIA) was reviewed by an independent Gauteng consultant. The report was then passed directly to Bhisho, where a “negative” record of decision (RoD) was signed off.

A copy of the RoD was not available on Wednesday. The department‘s communications division said this could only be done by the applicant developer. The developer, Johann Dreyer, chief executive of East Cape Show Case, could not be reached for comment.

The Grahamstown firm which did the EIA, Coastal and Environmental Services, confirmed that a “negative” RoD had been handed down, but details were not immediately available.

The project was originally billed as an eco- tourism venture, but critics grew increasingly concerned about the amount of building envisaged in what was public open space before it was leased to the developer in 2002.

The 5639ha project site, stretching from Cape Recife to Sardinia Bay and inland to the airport, was to have included 16 “precincts”, six of which were to have included some kind of accommodation. One of the chief areas of dispute was the 8ha “education precinct” in which the developer envisaged accommodation for 2000 students.

There was to be a system of inter-linking “green corridors”, together with an edu-precinct with administration offices, a conference auditorium, parking lot, restaurant and an 18-hole links golf estate on the edge of the sea, as well as 500 accommodation units.

Coastal Environmental Trust chairman Dr Peter Schwartz said he felt the decision was the right one.

“We supported the Madiba Bay concept initially, but the developer deviated from his original concepts and the project became mish-mashy, plastic and commercialised.

“We feel that the site belongs to the people of PE, and the later introduction of concepts like a golf course, a Ferris wheel and student village were not right.”

One of the developer‘s key commitments was that the project would rehabilitate the area by eradicating invasive vegetation and reintroducing indigenous brush. But the trust was unable to get an assurance on the timeline for this, Schwartz said.

“We were very concerned that he was going to do the building and then not have enough money to carry out his rehabilitation pledge.”

The trust was also concerned about the introduction of the Big Five and the lack of investigation around whether they had occurred in the area historically.

It would also have been unacceptable to subject wildlife, held in camps, to the noise pollution from jets landing and taking off at the adjacent airport, he said.

Schwartz said the alternative Cape Recife Conservancy plan, which was proposed last year for the area, could now forge ahead.

The conservancy will seek to unite landowners like Pine Lodge and NMMU behind an eco-tourism and eco-education project with minimual infrastructure and focused on conservation, improvement of trails and increased security.

Source: The Herald