By Sven Lunsche  

Any visitor to  the north of Durban - from La Lucia to Umdloti - will be astounded at the rate of property development that is taking place there.

What was once almost exclusively sugar cane country has, over the past 10 years, become a concentration of office developments, modern shopping centres and upper-income housing complexes.

These developments are the result of large-scale investments by Moreland, the property development company of KwaZulu Natal's largest company, Tongaat-Hulett. The connection between the two companies is no coincidence - Moreland has used former sugar cane land owned by Tongaat-Hulett and transformed it into prime property development space. In the process, Moreland has become SA's largest private land developer.

Moreland MD Gordon Hibbert says the group has developed about 1 000 ha of the total 10 000 ha it owns in the Durban metropolitan area. Its R1bn in investments has been matched by R8bn from clients who bought the land and about R100m from infrastructure investments by the eThekwini council.

Some Durban politicians have raised concerns that Moreland's development has accelerated the flight of residents and businesses from the city centre, but Moreland argues it has kept many from leaving the city altogether.

Multinational group Unilever contemplated leaving Durban, but decided to move from the CBD to the La Lucia Ridge office estate.

Hibbert says Moreland's developments have attracted new businesses, from SA and internationally, but "most of our business occupants are local players".

He says: "It was never our intention to attract CBD companies, but over the past 20 years the Durban CBD has lost a lot of businesses to grime and crime.

"That is gradually being reversed, but both new companies and Durban-based ones have been and are looking for modern facilities on a low-rise basis in safer areas, with good infrastructure. We could offer that," he says.

Most of Moreland's developments are within a 5 km radius of Umhlanga Ridge, "where a strong degree of synergy exists between our residential and commercial portfolios", Hibbert says.

At the heart of this is the Umhlanga Ridge New Town Centre, which has attracted almost R3bn in development, including the R1,5bn Gateway shopping centre, the smaller Crescent shopping centre and a large motor city precinct.

More than 30 000 permanent jobs have been created at Umhlanga Ridge, in addition to the 20 000 employed during construction.

The adjacent La Lucia Ridge office estate has attracted some of SA's top corporates, particularly banks and accountancy firms, which have invested a combined R1bn in office blocks.

Other Moreland developments under way in the northern corridor include:

  The R800m Sibaya casino and entertainment complex owned by Afrisun KZN. It is scheduled to open late next year and has budgeted for 2m visitors/year. Included in the Zulu-theme complex are two hotels and conference and exhibition facilities. 

  The 300 ha Riverhorse Valley business estate on the N2 in northwest Durban. The estate is a partnership with the eThekwini council, which is investing R250m in a new interchange off the N2 freeway. Moreland industrial and commercial director Ken Forbes says R40m of land has already been sold on the estate. He expects total investments of R1,6bn at the estate and an estimated 20 000 jobs will be created. 

  A second joint initiative with the city is the new town centre in the Inanda area that will serve as a retail and industrial development node for the Phoenix, Inanda, KwaMashu and Ntuzuma township in northwest Durban. 

On the residential side, Moreland has completed the Zimbali and Mount Edgecombe estates and is developing new residential developments at Ilala, Edgeview and Izinga Ridge in the La Lucia/Mt Edgecombe area.