Buffalo City Metro is seeking a court order to force developer Jean du Plessis to break down his multimillion-rand Beacon Bay Crossing project because he has not submitted building plans for approval.
After a two-year standoff, the metro moved this month to seek a court demolition order against the developer, as well as an interdict to stop construction which has been carrying on at pace.
Du Plessis, alleged the metro, ignored municipal and national building laws and forged ahead with the massive development despite not being in possession of the required approvals.
Du Plessis’s Johannesburg-based attorneys, Sim and Botsi, have filed an intention to oppose the court application.
Du Plessis did not respond to Dispatch requests over the past week for comment. E-mails and cellphone messages to other SKG managers also went unanswered.
On Thursday, portfolio manager for the SKG Group Gavin Crisswell hung up the phone when he heard the Dispatch wanted comment.
The Dispatch has previously reported on SKG’s development of a R350-million hotel and mall complex on a platform spanning a deep excavation into the hill and a huge mound which lies cheek by jowl with Nompumelelo township in Beacon Bay.
BCM, as promised in an official report to council last month, has now launched a high court application to interdict Du Plessis’s Slip Knot Investments 777 (the holding company of his SKG business empire) from proceeding with the building work, which has been under way for more than two years.
It wants the court to order Du Plessis to demolish all structures which have already been erected without planning approval.
Despite SKG issuing public statements on its flagship development, BCM chief financial officer Vincent Pillay said in court papers the municipality did not know the exact use for which the “main building works” on the property had been erected.
In correspondence attached to the BCM papers, SKG chief operating officer Rhett Shaw queried the amount BCM billed it for approval of building plans, saying it was “building 58000m² of basement parking” but was being charged exorbitant plan fees.
SKG allegedly did not respond to a 2013 BCM notice to stop building “miscellaneous works” until it had submitted plans for municipal approval.
Further notices relating to both the main and miscellaneous works were issued in February this year, with no compliance by Du Plessis, according to Pillay.
SKG made proposals to BCM in July this year to settle the legal dispute, but these were not acceptable to the municipality, Pillay said. — with additional reporting by Bongani Fuzile
BCM bid to stop Crossing building
After a two-year standoff, the metro moved this month to seek a court demolition order against the developer, as well as an interdict to stop construction which has been carrying on at pace.
Du Plessis, alleged the metro, ignored municipal and national building laws and forged ahead with the massive development despite not being in possession of the required approvals.
Du Plessis’s Johannesburg-based attorneys, Sim and Botsi, have filed an intention to oppose the court application.
Du Plessis did not respond to Dispatch requests over the past week for comment. E-mails and cellphone messages to other SKG managers also went unanswered.
On Thursday, portfolio manager for the SKG Group Gavin Crisswell hung up the phone when he heard the Dispatch wanted comment.
The Dispatch has previously reported on SKG’s development of a R350-million hotel and mall complex on a platform spanning a deep excavation into the hill and a huge mound which lies cheek by jowl with Nompumelelo township in Beacon Bay.
BCM, as promised in an official report to council last month, has now launched a high court application to interdict Du Plessis’s Slip Knot Investments 777 (the holding company of his SKG business empire) from proceeding with the building work, which has been under way for more than two years.
It wants the court to order Du Plessis to demolish all structures which have already been erected without planning approval.
Despite SKG issuing public statements on its flagship development, BCM chief financial officer Vincent Pillay said in court papers the municipality did not know the exact use for which the “main building works” on the property had been erected.
In correspondence attached to the BCM papers, SKG chief operating officer Rhett Shaw queried the amount BCM billed it for approval of building plans, saying it was “building 58000m² of basement parking” but was being charged exorbitant plan fees.
SKG allegedly did not respond to a 2013 BCM notice to stop building “miscellaneous works” until it had submitted plans for municipal approval.
Further notices relating to both the main and miscellaneous works were issued in February this year, with no compliance by Du Plessis, according to Pillay.
SKG made proposals to BCM in July this year to settle the legal dispute, but these were not acceptable to the municipality, Pillay said. — with additional reporting by Bongani Fuzile
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