Sanral sticks to first Wild Coast route

Roads agency Sanral will not deviate from the original N2 Wild Coast route it recommended back in 2001, the development’s project manager Craig McClachlan announced yesterday.

McClachlan said the decision to stick to the original route was informed by an independent environmental impact assessment which found “the original route set in 2001 maximised all the benefits for surrounding communities and minimised the negative impacts on the environment”.

The agency was reacting to a Dispatch report on Tuesday which stated that some residents of affected villages in the Pondoland area, under the banner of the Amadiba Crisis Committee (ACC), were threatening to go to court if Sanral did not alter the route.

ACC spokesman Mzamo Dlamini said last week their main concern was that the proposed four-to six-lane highway would be built 2.5km from a “pristine beach, destroying land and livelihood for some 100 families in the Sigidi and Mdatya villages and providing infrastructure for open-cast mining from the sea and 1.5km inland”.

But McClachlan said all environmental concerns would be addressed, and that agreement was reached between them, the departments of economic affairs and treasury; environmental affairs; forestry and fisheries and the Eastern Parks and Tourism Agency board “for a bio-diversity offset arrangement”.

This will include:

• The creation of 15000ha of new protected areas under management of ECPTA, an area Sanral said would be greater than the development footprint of the toll road;
• Protection and viability of the Pondoland biosphere and its uniqueness;
• Search and rescue operations for protected and endangered flora; and
• A committee to monitor and oversee Sanral’s environmental plan during the construction of the road. — zineg@dispatch.co.za