The first was that the government supported the mining initiative as the best route for development in the area. The majority of community members, however, favoured a continuation of a grassroots ecotourism business, which had at the time been in operation for several years. The second was that the community, as interested and affected parties, had not been consulted adequately in the run-up to the government’s decision to grant the mining rights.

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Source : www.witness.co.za

SWC has produced the calendar for the AmaDiba community of the Wild Coast to raise funds for their court challenge to compel the Minister of Environment to withdraw the environmental authorization she gave for a short cut in the N2 route between Durban and East London along the Pondoland Wild Coast.

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TRANSPORT Minister S’bu Ndebele has called a halt to the further tolling of national roads, including the controversial proposal for the N2 Wild Coast road, which would have resulted in the construction of a toll gate at Isipingo.

A statement released by the Transport Ministry yesterday stated that Ndebele believed that consultative processes should be allowed to take place to offer concerned parties the opportunity to share their views on toll road programmes.

“All spheres of the government should be part of a consultative process with all affected parties, consumers in the main. Good infrastructure is a necessity for a better future for our country, but this requirement must not leave our people even poorer,” Ndebele said.

Transport Ministry spokesman Tiyani Rikhotso said the consultative process was intended to result in suggestions and a solution regarding the tolling of roads.

“We are allowing for all views to be heard because it has become an overwhelming issue,” he said.

Rikhotso said there was no deadline for the consultative processes to begin, but the department was dealing with the matter “as a matter of urgency”.

SA National Roads Agency Limited CEO Nazir Ali said Ndebele’s statement meant that all future toll road proposals had been halted.

Cormac Cullinan, an attorney representing South Coast residents opposed to the Wild Coast toll road, was delighted to hear of the minister’s move.

“It is a very sensible move because the government would be spending billions of taxpayers’ money for these projects. Tolling is also an extremely inefficient way of raising money for the upkeep and maintenance of roads. They are building a high speed but limited access road in the Wild Coast area without considering the option of upgrading existing roads,” he said.

Andrew Layman, chief executive of the Durban Chamber of Commerce and Industry, said some time had elapsed since the chamber made representations in respect of the Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) process.
“These representations reflected strong opposition to the establishment of a toll road in such a way that commuters would be seriously affected.

“While there is a need for the N2 to be upgraded to improve the link with the Eastern Cape, it is unsupportable that the cost should be borne by local people who use the road on a daily basis.”
The impact assessment pro-cess, he said, had been completed and permission granted for the road to be built – objections lodged by the chamber, mainly on the basis of the economic impact, had been overruled.
“The chamber is engaging with its members to prepare for (the public comment process) and, perhaps, contest the decision for the EIA approval. We do not have a new mandate yet, but it appears that the opinions of member companies, especially those in the south area who will be most directly affected, have not changed since the chamber lodged its previous objections.”

Wildlife and Environmental Society of SA conservation manager Chris Galliers said the organisation had just received a response from Molewa to requests for more information to validate her decision to authorise the highway and tolls, and would discuss the outcome at a later stage.

Ndabezinhle Sibiya, spokes-man for Premier Zweli Mkhize, said the position of the KZN government had also not changed. ”(The premier) and his government are opposed to the tolling of roads as this will hamper socio-economic development,” he said.
The City of Cape Town has applied for an interim interdict to stop the SA National Roads Agency Limited (Sanral) from implementing proposed tolls on the N1 and N2. Mayor Patricia de Lille said poorer areas would be hardest hit by the proposed toll roads.

Sanral, in response to queries made by the Daily News, said that following the decision to approve the construction of the proposed project made by Minister of Environmental Affairs Edna Molewa, there would follow, among other things, the intent to toll process, which would provide the public with further opportunity to voice their views. It said the public were urged to make their views heard. “As with all the other steps in the project proposal, the intent to toll will be publicised in national and regional media for public knowledge.”
Sanral was not able to say when this process would begin.
Albi Modise, the chief director of communications of the Department of Environmental Affairs, confirmed that Molewa remained committed to her initial decision.

Source:   Daily News

Author:  Kamcilla Pillay

says Cape Town Routes Unlimited CEO Calvyn Gilfellan

The Chief Executive Officer of Cape Town Routes Unlimited, Calvyn Gilfellan, says tourism in the Western Cape will be adversely affected if the South African National Roads Agency (SANRAL) goes ahead with plans to introduce toll roads in the region.

In a statement released today, Mr Gilfellan, head of the Western Cape’s official tourism marketing authority, called on SANRAL to reconsider its plans to toll the N1 and N2.

Mr Gilfellan said: “Tourism has become the biggest growth industry in the Western Cape. The industry relies heavily on tourists from abroad and the rest of our country to keep it healthy and growing strongly.

“The worldwide economic situation is putting this sensitive industry under pressure. Toll roads will have a negative impact on those tourists, particularly South Africans, using the N1 and N2 to reach holiday destinations.

“For many of them more toll roads will mean cutting back on vacations. We urge SANRAL to reconsider its plans to toll these highways.”

He said that the tourism industry is a R25 billion a year business. “Thousands of people are employed directly or indirectly. More toll roads in the Western Cape may put many livelihoods at risk.”

Source : BusinessDay

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You’re less likely to have heard of another, perhaps less significant, but equally controversial plan to build a new highway on South Africa’s Wild Coast. The bad news: this one looks like it’s going ahead.

Last week, South Africa’s Minister of Water and Environmental Affairs, Edna Molewa, gave the go-ahead for the new N2 Wild Coast toll road project which will involve the upgrading of existing smaller roads and building of some 90 kilometers of new road through the Pondoland area. Government believes that the road will help create job opportunities, increase tourism and accelerate investment and development in this rural and largely impoverished region. Significantly, it will also provide for easier access to potential mining prospects along the spectacularly beautiful and relatively untouched coastline.

The fight over this road, which in 2007 was estimated to cost R6.4 billion (about $950 million), has been going on for more than a decade. Support has come largely from the national government level and the South African National Roads Agency. Very vocal opposition has been provided by local communities on the Wild Coast, environmentalists, concerned citizens and even the provincial government of KwaZulu Natal.

The project was shelved in 2004 after it was discovered that the supposedly independent environmental consultants tasked with conducting an environmental impact assessment (EIA) had financial links with the companies hoping to build the new road. Molewa’s recent announcement comes after another EIA gave the green light for the project.

The new EIA acknowledges that there will be a “loss of sensitive habitats” and “faunal impacts with loss of faunal diversity and loss of species of special concern.” Opponents charge that the road will endanger sensitive forests and waterways and threaten the traditional way of life of local communities.

Of particular concern is the new section of road which is slated to cut through and destroy some 16% of a fragile region known as the Pondoland Centre of Endemism which is of special value because of its great biodiversity and the presence of many plant species that are found nowhere else on the planet. It also represents the cultural homeland of the AmaPondo people. This new section of road would include construction of no fewer than nine new high-level bridges across river gorges.

Adversaries of the new road argue that a truly sustainable development path for the region would help to uplift the local population while protecting the unique environment at the same time. They have vowed to fight government’s intention to go ahead with construction in the country’s courts.

Visitors to the Wild Coast have long appreciated it as one of the most beautiful parts of South Africa and one that has remained largely undisturbed by human development and environmental degradation. It would be unforgivable if it was devastated by something as mundane as a road. In the words of one local commentator, Fred Orban, “the surest and quickest way to destroy a world renowned wilderness area is to cut a highway through its heart.”

Source: care2.com/

COMMUNITIES in the AmaDiba Tribal Administrative area, which succeeded in pressuring Mineral Resources Minister Susan Shabangu to withdraw Wild Coast mining rights, now plan legal action to stop the N2 toll road being built.

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Source: businessday.co.za

Johannesburg – The construction of the controversial N2 Wild Coast toll will come at a hefty cost, an environmental group warned on Wednesday.

The Wildlife and Environmental Society of South Africa (Wessa) said the construction of the road in the mountainous area would be costly as large bridges would be needed.

Water and Environmental Affairs Minister Edna Molewa this week reportedly approved the construction of the toll following years of opposition against it.

Wessa was one of the organisations that campaigned against it.

The KwaZulu-Natal government and the eThekwini Municipality also vehemently opposed it arguing that its tolls would have a severe impact on motorists’ pockets.

According to Wessa, six toll plazas would be erected along the new road.

Two would be in KwaZulu-Natal and four in the Eastern Cape and that it was the commuters who would foot the bill.

Wessa has also accused Molewa of failing to recognise importance of the biological diversity of the area where the road will be constructed.

The N2 Wild Coast toll road would run through the pristine and unique Pondoland, the organisation said.

Wessa manager Chris Galliers said he hoped Molewa would apply attention to the long standing need for the area to attain some level of formal protection as identified in the National Protected Area Expansion Strategy.

He said they were concerned about the change in the nature and social fabric of the area forever.

“This may very well take the ‘wild’ out of the ‘Wild’ Coast.”