David Davies of the Belmont Development Company has big plans for the City of Grahamstown. There are plans in place for the development of the Belmont Valley area and the redevelopment of the Grahamstown Golf Course into a housing estate. These twin projects amount to a R500 million investment and both plans are on the verge of being finalised.
The projects are ambitious and will, on completion, change the face of Grahamstown. When all the facets of the projects are completed a housing complex, shopping mall, replacement golf course and soccer academy will have been constructed and the city’s water treatment plant upgraded
The Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) for the project has been submitted to the municipality and is awaiting final approval. An assessment as to condition of bulk services such as water, power and sewerage at the proposed construction sites is also expected to receive approval in the weeks ahead.
The EIA paid particular attention to the presence of wetlands, a South Africa War era trench system and memorial on the site the Grahamstown Golf Course currently occupies. Davies stated that “we are definitely preserving the wetlands and we are going to clean up the trench and provide access to the memorial. We’re trying to build the appeal of Grahamstown and we think this lies in education and tourism. History is big part of that.”
The Grahamstown Golf Course will be moving South, to the Belmont Valley area allowing for the construction of a housing estate on its current location. This estate will be a secure community featuring a 2500m2 shopping mall surrounded by 650 houses and an apartment complex of 250 flats. Among the parties Davies hopes to entice are current and potential Rhodes University staff.
“Rhodes has been held back by high property prices which have made potential staff wary of moving to Grahamstown,” says Davies, “the starting price of our 3 bedroom property will be R750 000,” which he believes is “competitive” when compared to prices in established suburbs.
Some members of the community have voiced concerns that even this price is out of the range of many Rhodes staff but Davies is quick to point out that the project is not dependent on support from the university.
Before it can begin work on this part of the project the Belmont Development Company is contractually obligated to provide new grounds for the Grahamstown Golf Course. The new golf course will be the foundation of the developments taking place in the Belmont Valley area and will also see the establishment of a soccer academy. This academy will offer places to talented soccer players between the ages of 12 -18 and provide them with both training and education, with the idea of creating not only future soccer stars but also managers, coaches and medics.
The developer is also currently in the process of negotiating with the municipality to form a private-public partnership which will see R66 million invested into the Belmont Waste Water Treatment Works. This investment will be used primarily to upgrade a system that is not meeting the current needs of the city. The upgrade will also see the introduction of methane gas and fertilizer plants, both of which will produce products that can be sold in the community and the intention is to have members of the community trained to manage these projects.
If these projects prove successful then further developments of the city are inevitable with Izenzo Consulting standing ready to invest an additional R1,5 billion into future projects
“We believe in this project. This will help grow the appeal of Grahamstown.” Said Davies.
By Gregory de Mink
Grahamstown property developer David Davies points at the Belmont development site
The Intensive Report 