Heritage Cases

The proposed development of the Gessla Eco Estate is located in Umhlali, KwaDukuza District Municipality, KZN. The proposed project is approximately 196 Hectares in total and proposes the establishment of approximately 57 residential units on 6 Hectares of the site. Thus the total development footprint will be approximately 6 Ha with the remaining 190 hectares of sugar cane contributing to conservation as the Sugar Cane will be removed and indigenous grasses and trees will be used to rehabilitate the area. The proposed project has an initial pilot phase whereby it is proposed the construction of 10 units only, on an area smaller than 1 hectare, for which environmental authorisation is not required (confirmation as per EDTEA response enquiry is appended to this application).The remaining 47 units will trigger a basic assessment to obtain environmental authorisation to consider and address the development in its entirety to ensure appropriate management of all environmental requirements associated with the total development footprint. Activities proposed for the Gessla Eco Estate. • The development of 47 residential units of Approximately 6 Ha - The electricity requirements will be met with the use of renewable energy sources, namely solar panels and wind turbines at each residential unit which will have a total output capacity of approximately 5 megawatts. The solar panels will have a development footprint of approximately 950 square meters and the wind turbines will have a development of approximately 500 square meters. - The potable water for the site will be sourced from boreholes. • The conservation of the remaining 190 Ha with indigenous vegetation • The construction of weirs and watering holes • Construction of potable water, storm water and sewage pipelines for the provision of services to the residential units. The internal diameter of the potable water pipeline will be 32mm and 110mm for the stormwater and sewage pipelines. • Sewage disposal will be by means of conservancy tanks where each house is to have a localised tank so there will be approximately 65 6m3 tanks • 1 Vehicle Bridge and 3 pedestrian bridges will be constructed on the site. The vehicle bridge is approximately 4m wide and 12 m long. The pedestrian bridges are all 1m wide and 6m long. • Expansion of existing roads by approximately 1.5m • Walk and trail paths are proposed for the site • The construction of a club house, offices, stores and refuse areas on the site • The construction of a 7Ml reservoir on site The proposed Gessla Eco Estate Development proposes a “green” footprint whereby sustainable options for services are considered either as stand-alone solutions or integrated with conventional solutions for water and energy.