Details of a proposed new golf course, to be built on the seaward side of Marine Drive in Port Elizabeth, emerged on this week.

The 18-hole course is one of the developments that forms part of the Madiba Bay Leisure Park, which is presently being considered by the Eastern Cape economic affairs, environment and tourism department.

Touching on it during his presentation on the leisure park to interested and affected parties, Eastcape Showcase chief operating officer Johann Dreyer said it would comprise a typical links formation of nine holes out and nine holes back, linked by a "halfway house" refreshment point. The holes will run parallel to one another, on the bluff above the sea, between Lookout and the Marine Drive shooting range.

He said most of the site was covered in alien vegetation, and this will be cleared in terms of the project's long-term commitment to clear all the exotics across the Madiba Bay Leisure Park site.

"There is some fynbos and we will be increasing what is there in line with the good work that is being done across at the NMMU."

Asked about irrigation, and demands on the existing water supply, one of the chief environmental concerns around golf courses, he said the course would be irrigated wholly by recycled sewerage water from the Driftsands reclamation plant.

Seeking to avoid government's stated opposition to "walled estates", there will be no residential component and no fencing. The cost of playing will be "affordable", he said.

The lack of a fence will also mean game will be able to range freely in and out of the course. This game will include indigenous animals like grysbok which already exist in the area, as well as animals that will be introduced, to go with artificially created grasslands and other environmental zones.

Responding to a question on the sensitive issue of public access to the coast, Dreyer said this would at no stage be limited beyond what it is at present.

Residential unit construction and other developments will take place inside the Willows Resorts' gates 2-4, about mid-way along Marine Drive, and payment will be required to enter through these points. "But if you want to walk along the coast from one side of Madiba Bay to the other you will be able to do so for free."

Coastal development will stop at gate 5 and this green lung will extend west to link up with the Sacramento Trail and a surrounding "eco-precinct", he said. Buildings in this area will be knocked down and electrical cables will be taken below ground.

Asked about access for anglers and bird watchers to the rocks at Cape Recife and to the nature reserve, he said a method similar to the existing permit system would be adopted.

An extra concession element designed to bring in youth and educational groups has been provisionally allocated to the Van der Kemps Kloof Trust from the Northern Areas.

Dreyer said he was hoping for a ruling from the department on the proposed Madiba Bay Leisure Park project by August this year. If it is approved, work will start "as soon as possible after that".

He said he would need R800-million to get the project under way but that a number of investors had indicated their interest and he was confident that the sum could be raised.

Coastline-situated golf courses are common in the Garden Route, with Pezula and the Pinnacle Point Beach and Golf Resort attracting a lot of attention because of their position, among other things. Pinnacle golf courses are attracting a lot of attention because of their location.

Easter Province Herald