Sibaya development to give KwaZulu-Natal cash boost

THE KwaZulu-Natal economy is set to get a multibillion rand boost from the release for sale by Tongaat Hulett of the first three land packages to developers for the first phase of the Sibaya mixed-use development on Durban’s north coast.

Trenley Tilbrook, the business development manager of Tongaat Hulett Developments, said yesterday that two of the five development nodes in Sibaya already had full development rights and jointly would have a total of 2 325 residential units.

“That will effectively pump R8 billion into the local economy, create 7 000 permanent jobs and generate R100 million in annual rates,” he said.

Tilbrook said determining the economic impact of developing these two nodes was formula driven and using standard norms and principles that were used across the industry.

The Sibaya precinct comprises 750 hectares across five development nodes, with three investment packages launched this week out of the five available within Node 1, which abuts the coastal dune forest, has easy access to the M4 and is close to Umhlanga and the King Shaka International Airport.

The three land packages being released will result in the con- struction of 650 sectional title units and 28 exclusive 2 000m2 stands for new homes ranging in size between 1 000m2 and 1 500m2.

Provision has also been made to accommodate 9 000m2 of commercial and retail space within the largest of the three packages and to accommodate future hotel developments.

Tilbrook said the residential component was more for middleand upper-income families because it was beachfront-type property and due to the ease to get on to the M4.

Pent up demand

Mike Deighton, the managing director of Tongaat Hulett Developments, said at the launch function at the Sibaya Casino and Entertainment Kingdom on Tuesday that there was a pent-up demand and serious appetite for investment in the north coast.

“Current developments like Izinga and Zimbali have been wholly sold out, leaving the market gasping for fresh investment opportunities,” he said.

Tilbrook said the final phase of The Pearls of Umhlanga was recently launched and R1bn worth of sales was achieved in one day for apartments selling for between R35 000 and R45 000 a square metre.

“If you are looking at that market, there does seem to be quite a bit of activity,” he said.

Tilbrook said they were seeing a lot of investment coming in from Johannesburg.

Buyers previously bought holiday homes in Durban but now they were living in Zimbali, for instance, and commuting to Johannesburg for business, he said.

Tilbrook said the launch in Durban was targeted at developers and not end users.

The response was overwhelming and it had already received some e-mailed offers.

Tilbrook said the market would determine the price of each land package but they would like to sell them to credible developers with a track record and were also encourage the participation of black businessmen.

He anticipated that all the offers for the packages would be in by the end of this month and they hoped to take a decision on them next month.

Tilbrook said the time it took to fully develop the three packages would depend on the nature of the development proposals they received and how the developers wanted to phase it.

“We would like to see activity on site rather sooner than later. I’m definitely hoping to see construction on site within the next six to 12 months,” he said.

The timing of the release of the remaining two packages in Node 1 was dependent on how the current process panned out, he said.