Plans are in place for a R500-million project which could see houses being built on the existing golf course and the development of a lifestyle centre in Belmont Valley.
Plans are in place for a R500-million project which could see houses being built on the existing golf course and the development of a lifestyle centre in Belmont Valley.
The project, which the developer says will create thousands of temporary jobs and hundreds of permanent ones, includes the building of sporting and farming academies, a hotel and conference centre and a small residential area of about 50 housing units, all in Belmont Valley.
The Grahamstown Golf Club and Makana Riding School would also relocate to the valley to allow their existing land to be turned into a mixed-use residential area.
Izenzo Project Manager David Davies says the project is in its planning phase at the moment and rezoning applications have been sent out.
He has already purchased 222 hectares of land in the valley and is working on buying more. Davies, who has been working on the project for two-and-a-half years, says the aim is to keep most of the R500-million that will be spent on the project in Grahamstown, so all service providers will be sourced locally.
“It is hoped that the project will generate a knock-on effect to benefit the existing businesses in Grahamstown and the disadvantaged community by generating work for them, feeding them and providing opportunities to further their careers.”
He says the project is aiming to create between 750 to 1000 permanent jobs and provide skills development, as well as open up more land for housing.
According to Davies, Belmont Valley is fertile with plenty of water and different vegetation which makes the area “look like Franschoek.”
He says the road in the valley is graded and there is plenty of water from the perennial river, while the treated sewerage effluent that flows into the valley contributes to the land’s fertility.
Grahamstown’s golf course was originally meant to be built in this area but after the influx of personnel at the army base camp during World War Two, it was built by default next to the army camp.
A few years ago, says Davies, he jokingly asked the then-president of the golf club, Mick Rushmere, whether the golf club would be prepared to relocate if he bought land in Belmont Valley, to which Rushmere answered in the affirmative.
Now Davies is putting the plan into action. The idea is to create a sports academy in which there will be a world class golf course, equestrian, golf, tennis, bowls, rugby, cricket and soccer clubs.
Davies says that although sport is popular here, sporting bodies have small memberships and they battle to maintain their facilities.
The aim is to create one clubhouse for the different sporting bodies which will contribute to sustaining it. The sporting bodies will own their own land and the sports academy will have a slush fund of R5-million for a period of three years as Davies anticipates that it will take some time before the sporting facillities take off.
“Coupled with the idea of a sport academy is the idea which has moulded itself around a small-scale farming academy to teach the disadvantaged community how to grow vegetables and peppadews,” Davies says.
The farming academy would allow the community to grow the vegetables to feed the local community, sell to Pick n Pay and grow for export as there is a manufacturing plant in the Belmont Valley which exports peppadews overseas.
Davies says that this agricultural venture adopts an holistic approach to the use of the land which gives back to the land and the community.
He says that the project has many spin-offs such as when you look after the community, the community looks after you.
“It’s like that old saying of, you give a man a fish and you feed him for a day but you teach a man to fish and you feed him for a lifetime,” he says.
However, Davies says that everything costs money so a small housing development has been envisioned in which properties will consist of large pieces of land with secure perimeter fences. He says that there are also plans to build a small hotel and conference centre to attract visitors.
Also, a Belmont Treasury Trust will be established to encourage entrepreneurship and which will be funded by a percentage of sales in perpetuity.
The trust will also encourage bursaries for sports and farming. The project is privately funded at the moment but further negotiations are taking place.
Davies says that the development in the Belmont Valley will create 10 000 construction job opportunities during the five to ten year building phase.
He says they are encouraging economies of scale by having sporting facilities under one roof. He says the project aims to create social upliftment to disadvantaged people through the small scale farming venture and to encourage sports tourism in the area.
This is reiterated by the captain of the Grahamstown Golf Club, Sean McCallum who says that moving to a better location and course will make members of the Grahamstown community play more golf as at the moment people rather go to Port Alfred or the Fish River Sun to play golf.
“By moving to the valley, we will be able to employ more people and attract outside visitors to Grahamstown,” he says.
“We would be happy to move because at the present golf course, the elements are against us as the ground is not great and it’s windy,” he says. “All our club members took a vote and there really isn’t anyone who is against the move, we would be proud of the opportunity,” McCallum says.
The golf club has signed the mandate to authorise Davies to go ahead with the proposal. The golf course will be designed by Phil Jacobs who has designed over 40 golf courses worldwide, including Leopard Creek.
The Makana Riding Club was issued with the land swap application earlier this year and as of yet the club has not made a decision.
The chairperson of the Riding Club, Louise Bowker says, “As far as we are concerned, the riding club is where it is at the moment.” She says that Davies addressed the club with the proposal on 5 February.
“The club has not made any further decisions and we have not been in contact with him again,” she said. The secretary of the club, Laura Brooks says that the club has not decided against the agreement to relocate but it just has not come to a decision yet.
The riding club will hold a meeting soon to discuss the matter. Davies says he has “tried to make the project as collaborative as possible.”
He has included the municipality, sport bodies and the university in the process. Davies says the project will benefit everyone.
“This is an ambitious challenge and there is still a lot of work to be done, but if Grahamstown can pull together then it really could be a great development for the town as now is the right time for such a development to take place,” Davies says.
