Major hotel plan for Port St Johns

PORT St Johns could soon boast a world-standard eco-hotel as part of a multimillion-rand development by a private land developer.

Eyabantu Holdings is interested in developing a piece of grazing land near Noqhekwane village, 3km east of the town.

Apart from the hotel, the developer hopes to build chalets and about 20 private residences as part of the development on a piece of land between Noqhekwane and the Ntlupheni River.

However, Eyabantu shareholder Pat Mdoda said yesterday there was nothing definite yet, as the investors still needed to meet Port St Johns mayor Lindelwa Rolobile.

The company would also meet the Noqhekwane community, the owners of the land, who would have to make a final decision on whether to approve the use of their land for the development.

“We have been speaking to the people [of Noqhekwane] for almost two years now,” Mdoda said.

“It’s communal land, so we also had to involve the Department of Rural Development.”

Although a formal presentation had been made to previous mayor Phikolomzi Langa, investors hoped to have an audience with Rolobile prior to meeting the residents of Noqhekwane.

About two weeks ago notice was given of a public participation meeting on February 17.

Rolobile confirmed yesterday that Eyabantu had not yet made a presentation to the municipality’s executive.

Mdoda said they hoped to meet the mayor by February 16, the day before the planned community meeting.

Asked how much a project of that magnitude would cost, Mdoda said it could run into hundreds of millions of rands.

“Just putting in infrastructure like water, building a road and installing sanitation, could cost about R100-million.”

Meanwhile, the chief of the area, Nomntu Mditshwa, said her people were excited at the prospect of such a big project as it could change their lives.

“It promises many job opportunities for our people.”