The developers behind the large-scale mixed-use residential development, the “holistic” R20-billion Coega Ridge housing estate, outside Port Elizabeth, in the Eastern Cape, have confirmed that the project remains on track to break ground in 2018 and will likely slash Nelson Mandela Bay’s housing backlog of 87,000 units by providing over 40,000 mixed-income housing units.
Property group Nu-Way Housing Developments executive director Jordan Mann said that the ambitious project, which had the backing of the Coega Development Corporation, would “substantially” dent the metropolitan’s housing shortage.
Coega Ridge would offer community facilities, schools, a university, a technical college, a hospital, neighbourhood shopping centres and a regional shopping centre spanning up to 110 000 m².
Also included in the development would be a light industrial area, a railway station, office parks and a sports academy. An upmarket eco-estate with a golf course and a hotel were also in the pipeline, added Mann.
The project would then unfold over six to ten years. Project civil engineers Aurecon outlined that enough basic infrastructure services were in place to begin the first phase of construction, which would see the establishment of 5,000 housing units.
Earmarked for 3,200 ha of land along the R335 to Addo, Nu-Way was last year given the green light by the provincial Department of Economic Development, Environmental Affairs and Tourism to proceed with town planning for the project.
