Another project being marketed by Platinum Planet has failed to materialise and it seems that development of the Metsi Pepa eco-estate will now not go ahead after the developers have decided to sell the vacant land.
Metsi Pepa promised investors luxury tented accommodation with wildlife roaming throughout the estate, exhibition facilities and a health hydro. Spokesman for the development, Nicola Prinsloo says that the land will be sold along with the development rights to an investor with the financial capacity to complete the development.
Platinum Planet was responsible for marketing this project along with two others that have also failed to materialise. The others are the Clarens Golf and Trout Estate in the eastern Free State and the Hoedspruit Wildlife Estate in Limpopo.
According to Prinsloo, investors had invested about R18-million in the Metsi Pepa project and in terms of the sales contract the funds were to be used to develop the site. As a result it seems that those investors that put money into the development are unlikely to be reimbursed for the deposits paid.
She says that in terms of section 4.4 of the sales contract for units at Metsi Pepa the investors gave the developers permission to use the funds for the development and all the money paid by investors has been spent on developing the site.
Prinsloo says that apart from the funds paid by purchasers of land, the developers themselves invested a further R20-million in the estate. The land is apparently valued at R70-million.
Prinsloo would not disclose the identity of the new buyers or give an indication of whether or not the development would go ahead as planned. She did say that the sale should be concluded within the next eight weeks when more details of the sale will be released.
Earlier plans to auction off a part of the estate fell flat.
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