Mainstreet Junction Business Plan — Implementation Timeline

The timeline from funding close to first fuel sale, covering licensing, construction, tank installation and commissioning.

Implementation Timeline

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Figure 24. Implementation roadmap — approvals, licensing and construction.

Phase	Months	Key activities	Capital committed
1. Site securing and feasibility	0–3	Option or conditional purchase agreement; independent seven-day traffic count split light and heavy; economic viability study; preliminary oil company engagement	Option fee and study costs only
2. Statutory approvals	3–12	Rezoning application; environmental authorisation under NEMA; road access approval; heritage and geotechnical investigation where triggered	Professional fees of approximately R1.8m
3. Licensing and financial close	9–15	Site and retail licence applications with the DMPR; ten-year supply and branding agreement; quick-service restaurant lease signed as a condition precedent	Land acquisition of R8.5m; bulk of equity drawn
4. Construction and commissioning	15–24	Earthworks and civils; tank installation and pipework; canopy, dispensers and forecourt controller; shop building and fit-out; car wash; 60 kWp solar	Balance of R44.5m project cost
5. Trading and ramp	24–36	Opening at 340 000 litres a month ramping to 400 000; twelve-month capital moratorium runs; convenience format establishing	Working capital buffer of R1.4m

16.1 Critical dependencies and gates

Gate	When	Condition	Consequence if not met
Gate 1: traffic count supports the case	Month 3	A seven-day count demonstrating a defensible path to at least 400 000 litres a month	Do not exercise the option. The option fee is the entire loss, and it is the cheapest possible outcome
Gate 2: statutory approvals secured	Month 12	Rezoning granted and environmental authorisation issued	Do not acquire the land. Zoning and NEMA are the critical path and neither can be bought
Gate 3: financial close	Month 15	Site and retail licences issued; ten-year supply agreement signed; quick-service lease signed	Do not commence construction. The QSR lease is a condition precedent because it underwrites the shop conversion assumption
Gate 4: commissioning	Month 23	Calibration, municipal sign-off, staff trained, wet stock systems operating	Do not open. A forecourt that opens without wet stock discipline never establishes it
Gate 5: cover clears the covenant	Month 36	Debt service cover above 1.50 times	No distribution. The distribution gate is set above the covenant deliberately

The sequencing principle: approvals before capital, always

The single most expensive mistake available in this project is acquiring the land before rezoning and environmental authorisation are granted. R8.5 million committed against approvals that are not within the developer’s control, on a property that has limited alternative use if the filling station rezoning is refused, is a loss that no amount of subsequent good trading recovers. The plan therefore commits only an option fee and professional fees in the first twelve months — roughly R1.8 million against a R44.5 million project — and draws the land acquisition and the bulk of the equity only once Gate 2 is cleared. That structure costs an option fee and some carrying time. It saves the difference between losing R1.8 million and losing R10.3 million.

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