Emotions ran high in Amanzimtoti on Tuesday night as local residents turned out in force to protest against the proposed Wild Coast Toll Highway.

As tempers flared and arms waved in anger, voices were raised at a number of specialists called in to present various aspects of the draft Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) of the proposed toll road, which would bring a new toll plaza at Park Rynie and even closer to home at Isipingo as well as several ramp plazas in the Toti, Athlone Park area.

“You are just going to fleece us,” one man yelled at traffic specialist Willie Pienaar, who was surrounded by angry residents at the public open day in the town’s civic centre.

One irate man voiced his objections at Pienaar, then left to write down his official comment: “This is manipulation at its best,” he maintained.

‘This is manipulation at its best’
“Look I am paying for two children to go to university. You worry about your job. Now, we could be faced with toll fees,” said the exasperated protester, who merely gave his name as “Rob”.

Asked at the end of the evening if the Daily News could speak to him, one weary specialist, who was earlier surrounded by upset residents, Professor Christo Bester said: “As long as you don’t swear at me (like others had).”

The public open day was just one of 17 being held at central locations along the route of the proposed project. The plan aims to provide an improved, shorter and safer road link between the Eastern and Western Cape and KwaZulu-Natal.

Some 300 people turned up on Tuesday night – others had attended during the day – and most backed calls from Ted Holden, chairman of the upper South Coast anti-toll alliance (representing some 300 000 members), for a proper public sit-down question and answer session, instead of last night’s gathering where they could talk to specialists, study the proposed routes, fill in comment sheets and read the bulky EIA report.

Holden said that he wanted a public meeting in the third week of January, when South African National Roads Agency (SANRAL) should invite traffic and transport specialists “to explain to us in clear terms the strategic and future scenarios of how transport in our metropolitan area will be addressed and whether tolling the N2 fits in with their plans”.

‘We know there is a lot of resentment here and we understand that’
He wants an independent judge to chair the meeting and says that the closing date for submissions on the draft EIA should be extended from January 9 to February 18.

Holden said that if his request for a public meeting was denied, he would make it known in his submission to Marthinus van Schalkwyk, the Minister of Environmental Affairs and Tourism.

Local resident Roy Olckers said that at the last public meeting in 2006, people had almost come to blows about the issue.

“We have waited all this time and are still addressing the same thing. We are not opposed to roads in the Transkei, but we object to having to pay for them here,” he said.

Local business leaders, representing the Durban South Basin, the Southgate Business Park, Umbogintwini Industrial Complex and major industry in the area, also called for a proper question and answer session “as nothing is recorded here” and an extension of the January 9 closing date.

“These proposals (the toll fees) are going to have a huge economic impact on the businesses here and a knock-on effect on sub-contractors. There has got to be a greater level of public participation, particularly when it comes to the economic and social impact in this area. This report has not gone into that detail,” said Aldine Armstrong, the consortium’s lawyer.

Professor Bester, who did an economic analysis of the road, although he had not been told where the tolls would be or what would be charged, said that there was going to be cross-subsidisation.

“But my plea is for that cross-subsidisation to be reasonable and not unreasonable,” he said.

Asked about the possibility of a question and answer type of public meeting, Julian Drew of NMA Effective Social Strategists, the independent environmental consultants which drew up the draft EIA, referred to the one held two years ago.

Tuesday night’s session was more consultative, whereas a public meeting did not go into detail, he said.

“We know there is a lot of resentment here and we understand that. A similar meeting had been held in Scottburgh on Monday and “similar sentiments had been expressed”, he said.

Details of the draft EIA are available in libraries and on the websites www.ccaenvironmental.co.za and www.nra.co.za

Posted on November 20th, 2008
Filed under: Newspaper and Media