By DAVID MACGREGOR

The Ndlambe municipality yesterday said it was considering legal action against a Cape Town developer who allegedly chopped down protected milkwood trees and compromised ancient settler ruins during building work on a housing estate in Port Alfred.

Threatening to put a stop to all work on the upmarket Royal Alfred Estate pending a municipal investigation, spokesperson Malibongwe Mtima said developer Galliano Massari was clearly in breach of a contract signed with the local authority more than 15 years ago.

"The municipality is going to investigate the contract breaches and promises to make the report public so this will not happen again.

"Although we are partially to blame for not fulfilling our side of the agreement, the developer was naughty to go ahead without calling the relevant (municipal) people in to check things were all right."

Alleged breaches include not identifying all trees on the first two cleared sites, not working with the local authority to protect 1820 ruins, not forming an architectural committee with the building inspectorate and the lack of a home owners' association.

Finally breaking its silence following a massive public outcry, yesterday's municipal announcement comes almost two weeks after the Daily Dispatch first approached the local authority for comment.

In another development yesterday, the South African Heritage Resources Agency said it was working with the developer to do an archaeological impact assessment to identify Khoi midden pre-dating the 1820 settler ruins.

All earth moving work is on hold pending the assessment. Although the spotlight has been on the 31-unit phase one of the development, concerns have been raised that huge swathes of coastal forest will be chopped down in the next two phases of 170 high density units.

Daily Dispatch