Alicedale is expected to come alive with building and new business activity over the next few months, and the world-class golf course will be opened by Gary Player on October 1.

Prime spots on the Bushman Sands golf estate sold out immediately - in total 194 plots, with about 35 up for resale.

In April last year, plots sold for about R325,000 and they are now going for R100,000 more.

Buyers are mostly from Port Elizabeth, says estate agent Alexis Hull.

"I'd say 10% are international buyers, 10% from the Eastern Cape and the others from elsewhere in South Africa."

Mostly, she says, people are buying property in the town to build holiday or retirement homes, but there are also investors with business plans.

Hull says a bakery, butchery, security company and a host of other small businesses are on the cards for the community.

There are also plans to open a new restaurant by the end of the year.

She expects the town to become a hive of activity over the next three months.

She says the property market in Alicedale has seen a major increase over the past two years.

Houses that could be picked up for a song a few years ago - in the region of R30,000 - sold for over R200,000 towards the end of 2003.

According to Bushman Sands general manager Herman Muller, 129 jobs have been created (82% of those employed were from the local community).

This translates into a cash injection in terms of salaries of R1.9-million a year.

A further 65 indirect jobs have been created.

Muller says the 60-year-old railway station has also been revamped to host four conference venues, three of which will be completed before the end of this month.

There are plans to use golf estate homes for conference accommodation.

The original Station Bar has been refurbished and is open to the community and now includes a community pool and kiddies' pool. - ECN

Eastern Province Herald

Publisher: Eastern Province Herald
Source: Inet Bridge