Important land sales cancelled
For the purpose of financing capital development projects the selling of land not required for municipal use is an important source of income for the Overstrand Municipality.
Such funds are especially applied to develop and upgrade community facilities that do not generate income for the municipality, such as the tarring of roads and sports fields.
Two transactions to the value of R13 million recently had to be cancelled because of different reasons:
- The tender for the land on which the Hermanus tennis and squash courts are currently situated could not be awarded because the only valid offer was below the reserve price.
- The other cancelled transaction entailed the development of an oncology centre near the hospitals in Hermanus. The developer’s initial aim of establishing the new centre became unfeasable because of the stringent economic conditions and his alternative proposal for the land usage could not to be accepted because it would have been unfair to other potential buyers of the land who were not interested in developing an oncology centre
The final contract for the purchase of the Sandbaai commonage to the value of R40 million, which was recently approved by Council, could not be concluded in time for the revenue to be included in the 2012/13 Budget proposals. Negotiations, however, is continuing.
