Welcoming the news of the commissioning of a comprehensive Strategic Environmental Assessment for the whole of the Wild Coast, The Save the Wild Coast Campaign, an organisation representing hundreds of ngos and thousands of individuals, has called for a moratorium on decisions on the controversial N2 Toll Road through the area and the mining of dunes by an Australian company until the study is complete and has been carefully studied.
The Save the Wild Coast Campaign (SWC) is spearheaded by WESSA's Cathy Kay, and Bishop Geoff Davies, chairman of the Anglican Environmental Network. The SEA is being commissioned by the Wild Coast Conservation and Sustainable Development Project, which is funded by the Eastern Cape Department of Economic Affairs, Environment and Tourism, the Development Bank of Southern Africa and the UNDP.
Looking at the proposal for an upgraded N2, the SWC says that there is no question that improved infrastructure is needed to continue and accelerate recovery from the poverty and econonomic deprivation of the apartheid-era homeland system. The issues that need to be resolved are the 80kms "greenfields" section of the proposed route with its two massive billion-dollar suspension bridges, and whether tolling the road is the best option for the development of the area.
Critics of the route point out that the EIA on which the DEAT based a Record of Decision in favour of the route was flawed in several ways. Scoping was heavy-handed and biased, the company which conducted it has clear alliances to the engineering consortium which made the unsolicited bid for the road, and it did not consider economic and social consequences of the proposed route.
Most importantly, the "greenfields" section of the route runs parallel to the areas earmarked for open-cast dune mining in a pristine coastal area which has huge potential for community-based eco-tourism.
The SWC says that issues such as the effect of the road upon the Pondoland Centre of Plant Endemism, the proposed Pondoland National Park and a large breeding colony of endangered Cape Griffon vultures are vital to the economic future of the area. "The Wild Coast is the last pristine area of coastal wilderness in South Africa, and as such a huge asset to the people of the area and to the South African tourism industry", says a comprehensive analysis of the current situation.
Lylie Musgrave
Kibao Communications
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Kibao Communications
3 Bidston Road
Durban
4091
KwaZulu-Natal
RSA
tel 27 (0)31 261 3406
fax 27 (0)31 261 6232
email This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
mobile 072 2970974
Publisher: Press Release
Source: Press Release
