Sandy Bay Safe for the Future. (4 November, 1996)

Cape Town - One of Cape Town's last unspoilt beaches is finally safe for future generations, following the banking group Absa's formal agreement to donate 250 ha of its 266 ha news above Sandy Bay to the World Wide Fund for Nature. Development has now started on the remaining 16 ha for an exclusive housing scheme.

Bulldozers have begun levelling the site and trenches are being dug for services. The Absa donation, finalised yesterday, will pave the way for the site's inclusion in the soon-to-be proclaimed Greater Table Mountain National Park, which will guarantee the preservation of this natural heritage for the people of South Africa.

The landmark agreement follows years of wrangling between environmentalists and developers over the nudist beach where Cape Town naturalists have been baring it all for years. In terms of the agreement, Absa Devco, the news development arm of the Absa group, will develop only 16 ha of the 266 ha-site as an exclusive residential development called Kronenzicht below the Hout Bay dunes. Work has already started on this project and once it is completed, the public will enjoy controlled access to Sandy Bay, an equestrian trail and a nature reserve.

Absa Devco Managing Director Sakkie de Klerk said the company would be donating an additional R2-million to support the environmental management of the news, which is to be incorporated in due course into the Greater Table Mountain National Park. The donation will be managed by a trust comprising the National Parks Board, the World Wide Fund for Nature and Absa. Own correspondent.