SA Legacy Group gets funding
By Business Reporter
THE European Investment Bank (EIB) and Development Bank of Southern Africa (DBSA) have offered to provide funding to the Legacy Group of South Africa for its $200 million venture in Livingstone.
The investor wants to construct two five star hotels and a world class golf club in Livingstone’s Mosi-O-Tunya national park.
The Legacy Group has also dismissed fears by stakeholders in Livingstone that constructing the two hotels and a golf club would disturb the ecosystem and the heritage in the national park, saying several similar resorts had been built in national parks without any distortion.
According to a release obtained by Times yesterday, Legacy Group of South Africa chairman Bart Dorrestein said the Legacy Group had received formal expressions of interest from the two banks, which would be honoured once the investor had obtained the necessary statutory approvals from the relevant Zambian authorities and met banking lending criteria.
Mr Dorrestein said the development follows the meeting held last Friday at the Legacy head office in Sandton, Johannesburg, attended by several regional and international financial institutions.
On the controversial environmental issues, Mr Dorrestein said environmental consultants conducting the environmental impact assessment (EIA) for the Mosi-Oa Tunya Hotel and country club estate project in Livingstone had reported that a number of countries around the world had built golf courses in their national parks.
Some examples of such ventures in national parks included; Elephant Hills Golf Club in the Victoria Falls National park in Zimbabwe and the Skukuza Golf course in the Kruger national park in South Africa.
Others are Mount Kenya Safari Club in Mount Kenya national park, The Aberdares country club in National Aberdares national park, Kenya and the proposed Mweya Golf Course, Queen Elizabeth national park in Uganda.
The rest are Brijuni national park golf course in Croatia, Fundy national park golf course in Canada and the Wawona golf course, in California in the USA.
Mr Dorrestein said the Mosi-O-Tunya Hotel and country club estate project which will have 1, 790 rooms when completed is expected to create 3000 permanent jobs in Livingstone and generate an additional 300 000 tourist arrivals to Zambia by 2010,
Livingstone residents and other stakeholders recently expressed concern at the dangers of the massive investment in the park on the wildlife and heritage sites in the river frontage and the park.
Competent stakeholders advised the Legacy Group during an EIA scoping meeting that while the project had bright prospects for the Livingstone and Zambian community there was need to consult with all the necessary stakeholders to avoid endangering the heritage sites.
There were also fears that without consulting the UNESCO and others heritage authorities in the world, the Victoria Falls might be stripped off its world heritage status.
