[imagesource: River Club]

If there are any further construction delays for Amazon’s planned headquarters in Observatory, Cape Town, the global tech giant may pull out of the R4,6 billion deal.

That means that developers will have to scrap the River Club multi-purpose complex project for good and lose millions of rands in the process.

MyBroadband reported on an affidavit filed by developer Liesbeek Leisure Property Trust (LLPT) in court this week detailing the scale of the legal battle over the site sitting on the banks of the Liesbeek River:

In March 2022, the Western Cape High Court ordered all work at the construction site be stopped because LLPT had not conducted meaningful consultation with impacted First Nations people, who regard the development area as sacred land.

The developer subsequently applied for leave to appeal, but the High Court dismissed the application in a May 2022 ruling. It is now approaching the Supreme Court of Appeal (SCA) to overturn the order.

An LLPT spokesperson, James Tannenberger, said that any further delays could push the work back between 12 to 24 months, invoking a delay penalty of R450 000 a day, payable to Amazon, per The Sunday Times report:

“Any such delay would almost certainly see ADC terminating the development agreement and the lease agreements, as it would be entitled to do. Indeed, even a reduced delay of six months will result in termination by ADC,” he said.

The Western Cape First Nations Collective (WCFNC), representing groups in favour of the project, said opposition to the development was “an assault on our desire to return to our ancestral land”:

Abandoning the development would mean the loss of a planned Khoisan memorial centre and breakthrough for recognition of indigenous rights, said WCFNC spokesperson Zenzile Khoisan.

He accused objectors of undermining the will of traditional groups.

The City of Cape Town reckons the development would offer “enormous potential benefits”, including around 6 000 direct jobs and 19 000 indirect jobs, which will be lost if construction is suspended.

[sources:mybroadband&timeslive]