Sikh Gurudwara Mossel Bay - Progress

Land for the construction of the first Sikh Gurudwara in Mossel Bay was acquired on 18th November 2009. Being naive, we anticipated no problems and expected to complete construction by May 2010. We did not realise that it would take us four years to obtain planning approval and another 15 months to have plans passed to build a non-Christian place of worship in South Africa.

By the time approval was received in May 2014, due to inflation and weakening rand the cost of construction had more than doubled. In the meantime we had invested the funds in a fixed term deposit account. So we had to wait for another 8 months before we could access the funds and start construction. Deadline for commencement of the construction was 10th May 2015 to avoid re-applying for planning. To circumvent the legalities we dug temporary trenches and concreted the "footings" at a cost of wasted R30,000. On 8th August 2015 real construction work started. The above pictures tell the rest of the story about the progress made so far. We have now run out of funds to finish the project, so we need your help to assist us with the last £150,000 - 200,000 required. Please join hands with us to finish Guruji's abode. Mr Sethi of Johannesburg Sikh Gurudwara has been monumental in re-designing some of the features and in funding the recent stages of construction.