JSE-listed residential property developer Calgro M3 has stepped into the niche of private gravesites‚ despite municipalities claiming burial land is in a shortage.

The SA Local Government Association provoked an uproar from the Commission for Promotion of Human Rights of Cultural‚ Religious and Linguistic Communities when it proposed more than one person be buried in the same grave.

This practice is already in place at eThekwini municipality.

Calgro M3’s Memorial Park‚ located in Nasrec‚ near Soweto‚ is selling gravesites ranging from R10000.

“Everyone knows the municipality is running out of burial space; that’s what we trying to compensate‚” said Wikus Lategan‚ MD of Calgro M3.

The memorial park runs solely off solar power and is more than just a gravesite; it is a burial space with a difference‚ said Lategan.

The developed site can accommodate 22500 graves in its current phase 1‚ with an additional 11000 to be rolled out on the completion of phase 2 of the project.

“We want to restore a dignified place of burial. We believe this has been lacking in terms of dignified burial spaces‚” said Lategan.

Calgro M3 Memorial Park is the second of its kind in Johannesburg.

They share the private gravesite niche with Fourways Memorial Park located in the north of Johannesburg.

At Fourways Memorial Park your own private sanctuary can be bought for a minimum of R 34000 for a regular grave site and R 25000 for a site on a berm section.

The City of Johannesburg has over 36 cemeteries‚ of which 27 have reached maximum capacity for primary burial‚ says Jenny Moodley‚ general manager for public relations at Johannesburg City Parks and Zoo.

To cope with this the City has rolled out four more cemeteries which have the capacity for 1.5 million burial spaces.

These can cost anything from R1378 to R2225.

One of the benefits of a private gravesite is the security offered to you‚ as access to memorial parks is controlled and monitored.