The SA Post Office is set to invest R65-million in a new regional head office in Nelson Mandela Bay and its old city centre offices may get a new lease on life if the taxman moves in.

The Post Office has been offered a piece of land for about R4,4-million by the municipality between New Brighton and Algoa Park.

Consulting engineer Raj Maharajh said the Post Office was at present rationalising its operations into a centralised unit and had begun the planning process.

"A new mail centre is at an advanced stage of planning near New Brighton, making it easier for its workforce and also for transport logistics.

"The long-term plan is to locate its administrative offices and its various departments to this site," said Maharajh in a letter to the SA Revenue Service (SARS).

SARS wants to move to the Post Office building in Govan Mbeki Avenue because it too wants to consolidate its operations.

SARS spokesman Adrian Lackay said the taxman's offices were "scattered" across the city and that SARS wanted to amalgamate them into one building.

"We have identified several premises in the central business district and we are negotiating with the owners. The Post Office is one consideration," said Lackay.

"At this point we have not entered into any agreement with anyone. We are talking to several property owners in Port Elizabeth."

Lackay said they were still weighing up their options. "We will see what is available and what makes financial sense over time," he said.

Lackay said the Post Office staff were working under physically tiring conditions. The Post Office this week said it had not decided to sell its regional office but to rent it out.

SARS may rent the building at a later stage, but no decision had been made yet, said Martin Ramotshela, Post Office communications manager.

"A new mail centre for PE is being planned. However, a project of this size takes a considerable time and therefore no timeframe can be given for its completion," said Ramotshela.

The Herald has a copy of a letter agreeing to sell the 22ha piece of land to the Post Office. In a letter to Ronnie Soorjee, the Post Office regional property manager, the municipality agrees to sell the piece of land to the Post Office at "a selling price determined by a valuer appointed by the municipality".

The municipality gives 13 conditions which the Post Office must adhere to in order to secure the property.

The current Post Office building has 15 floors. The third floor has 170 parking bays, the lower second has 135 parking bays and the lower first floor has 96 parking bays.

The ground floor comprises over 6,000 square meters and the first floor 5,500 square metres.

Maharajh said among the reasons why the old Post Office building would be an ideal home for SARS were that all its activities could be centralised under one roof with three floors of covered secure parking.

"It is situated in the city centre and close to bus, taxi and other transport nodes such as the station and also linked to the Settlers Freeway," says Maharajh.

In a document to SARS, Maharajh said SARS was requested to put in an offer which would be considered by the board of the Post Office.

The new Post Office building will consists of PX containers, a mail centre, speed couriers, parcel post and staff parking.

Maharajh has been tasked with the renovation of all Post Offices in the province.