Golf course hotel on its tracks again

BARRY VILJOEN
>>barryv.observer@gmail.com

Good news for the economic sector of the city is that the hotel project adjacent to the Polokwane golf course is on track again.
The project seemed to have come to a halt some months ago and concerns were raised that the project may have been abandoned. The project is set to provide a large impetus to the tourism and hospitality industry of the city and the region.
Mofasi Lekota, Executive Chairman of the Amazin Group, the developers, on Friday confirmed to Polokwane Observer that the project is still on track and that construction activities will resume soon.
“The delayed completion of the hotel development was due the unfortunate circumstances that are mainly related to the execution of the final plans, lease arrangements and funding preconditions. As typical with the nature of the development of such projects, the execution of the original plans sometimes require adjustments that were unforeseen during the planning phase. In our case there were some challenges in terms of connection to bulk services. I am glad to say that with the cooperation of the municipality, the golf course management and all other regulatory stakeholders, these impediments have been resolved. With regard to the lease over the land, which is owned by the municipality, the process of the required registrations took longer than we had anticipated. The process of notarisation and registration of the lease is more complex because understandably the relevant agencies of government have to make sure that all T’s are crossed and I’s are dotted. These are steps that need to protect all the stakeholders in the project including us as developers, the funders and the landlord. We are also glad that the material impediments related to these issues have also been resolved,” Lekota explained.
Lekota said that the collective impact of all the factors resulted in the funders delaying the disbursement of the approved funding that is needed to take the development to its conclusion. “By the time you go to print all the outstanding preconditions will be satisfied, allowing our construction team to go back on site and see to the completion of the hotel,” Lekota promised.
Lekota concluded by saying: “Amazin Hotels would like to thank all the role players without whose cooperation we would not be able to realize this dream of building a quality hotel that the City of Polokwane and the province of Limpopo so much deserve. As we progress with the development, we are confident that we will be delivering a hotel of international standards to the people of Polokwane and those out-of-town business and leisure guests we are hoping to host as from May 2016. We are very excited and are confident that the people of Polokwane will be pleasantly surprised at the game changing quality and standard of hotel that is coming their way. We believe that the final product will have been worth waiting for. It is our hope that all our stakeholders will appreciate our stand that this hotel is a long-term project that will be with us for many years to come. It is therefore pertinent to do it right from the beginning and not compromise quality for the sake of expedience”.