Port Elizabeth, which has been somewhat left behind by the property development boom in SA, aims to jump on the bandwagon with 1039ha of prime state-owned land up for grabs.

A property investment conference aimed at luring developers and investors is being held in the Friendly City next month.

Hosted by the Mandela Bay Development Agency (MBDA), which was established two years ago to revitalise Port Elizabeth’s derelict central business district (CBD) and inner city, the conference aims to highlight development opportunities on the land. This includes the southern part of Port Elizabeth’s harbour and the inner city’s Central Hill, Baakens River and Richmond Hill districts.

The keynote address will be delivered by Public Enterprises Minister Alec Erwin, who is expected to discuss the use of state land for development purposes.

Pierre Voges, CEO of the MBDA, says he wants the conference, on August 25, to place Port Elizabeth on the national stage. “It’s the only inner city in SA which hasn’t seen a building crane in the past 20 years.”

Voges says the southern part of the harbour has become available for nonindustrial development because of the development of the Coega harbour. The MBDA is therefore also driving the development of the harbour as it is situated on the “doorstep” of the central business district.

The MBDA’s board of directors include businessmen Phil Gutsche and Sipho Pityana, as well as Coega Development Corporation CEO Pepi Silinga, Dannie Jordaan and former Port Elizabeth deputy mayor Errol Heyns.

Voges says that the “ugly” industrial part of the harbour, including an oil tank farm and manganese ore facility, will be moved to Coega by the National Ports Authority.

However, this will be a lengthy process as facilities will have to be built to accommodate these.

By 2010, the huge plot of land where the oil tanks are situated will be available for nonindustrial development at the Port Elizabeth harbour site.

“We are thinking of building retail, residential, office, tourism and leisure-type developments,” says Voges.

“The southern part is on the doorstep of the CBD and you find here an excellent opportunity to develop this part of the port in conjunction with revitalising the CBD area.”

Voges says that the MBDA has commissioned a master plan for the 1039ha site.

A consortium including GAPP Architects, KPMG, Metroplan and Urban Dynamics carried out market research to find out where investment gaps existed in Port Elizabeth’s property market.

“The master plan identified big capital projects such as a convention centre. There is a gap for conferencing and smaller projects which will be the catalyst for private sector investment in the property market.”

Voges says the plan includes converting Govan Mbeki Avenue, Port Elizabeth’s main road, which runs through the inner city from Market Square, into a pedestrian only area.

“We want to ‘pedestrianise’ the street and make it investor friendly,” he says.

Voges says the available land in the inner city and harbour area is owned either by national government or the local authority, and that both parties would like to release the land for private sector development.

The MBDA has put in place a “very strong” private security system in the inner city, including private security guards and closed-circuit television cameras.

“We also clean the city area every day,” Voges says.

Research found that business wanted a safe, clean environment, so the MBDA is “getting the basics right first”, he says.

“This conference is aimed at creating increased interest in property investment in Port Elizabeth.

We are going to use the Sapoa’s list to invite national property developers and the property divisions of commercial banks to the conference.

“From a property point of view, the city offers a family-orientated brand of lifestyle.

“A big thing about Port Elizabeth is that professional older people are moving back because the city offers a unique lifestyle.”