Destiny Africa land to be sold on tender

GEORGE NEWS - The land that was once earmarked for the mega development Destiny Africa, will become available for sale on a tender basis.

The tender process will start early in August.

John Jack of Galetti Corporate Real Estate, the company that is handling the sale, said it will be a sealed bid process. "Buyers will be invited to submit final offers by the end of September."

The property of 437 hectares borders on Thembalethu and is across the N2 from the Garden Route Mall.

It is zoned agricultural. The rights on the property have lapsed and a new owner would have to reapply for rights and rezoning. "Access to the property is an important consideration given the scale of the project," says Jack.

He is positive that the land can be sold successfully. "The previous developers applied for huge quantities of bulk services because of the high-density type of development, with skyscrapers, that they envisioned.

"The massive services contributions this resulted in caused the development to fall over. A different approach could see a successful development on this valuable piece of property."

Monteriva, that would have developed the land, is in the process of being liquidated. Galetti has been instructed by the liquidator to launch the sale process.

The original development proposal was initiated by a local consortium of business people through KDMC/Monteriva. Destiny Africa Investment Holdings was set up to drive the project that was marketed by the developers as a "knowledge city" with residential properties, international conferencing facilities, businesses, a university cluster, and medical and biosphere tourism facilities.

At the time of its public introduction in 2009, its value was estimated at R28-billion.

In 2019, plans for the development were rekindled when Chinese investors showed interest. They had the same development vision, but added a huge film studio they would name Sallywood. They arrived on the scene just before the development rights were to lapse.

However, in 2021, Fred Brown, the original Destiny Africa project coordinator for the KDMC/Monteriva group, told George Herald that the Chinese had not honoured their obligations in terms of the purchase contract, giving Covid complications as the reason.

The Destiny Africa land borders on Thembalethu (lower left corner) and is opposite the N2 from the Garden Route Mall (out of the picture at the top).