ENVIRONMENTAL INVESTIGATIONS

ENVIRONMENTAL INVESTIGATIONS ON PROPOSED VARIANT ALIGNMENTS

Wednesday, 26 October 2005: The Gautrain Rapid Rail Link received a positive Record of Decision (RoD) from the Gauteng Department of Agriculture, Conservation and Environment (GDACE) on 29 September 2003 and an amended RoD was issued on 25 April 2004.

The preferred bidder, the Bombela Consortium, has proposed some changes to the rail alignment on which the RoD was based. These changes involve a number of potentially positive environmental benefits, including a reduction in traffic, heritage and land-use and construction related impacts.

The project proponent, the Gauteng Department of Public Transport, Roads and Works, has also proposed a route variant on the approach into Johannesburg International Airport (JIA).

Felehetsa Environmental (Pty) Ltd has been appointed as independent environmental consultant to the Bombela Consortium to undertake the necessary environmental investigations on the proposed variants to the Gautrain alignment. Bohlweki Environmental (Pty) Ltd has been appointed by the Department of Public Transport, Roads and Works to carry out the environmental investigations on the Rhodesfield to JIA variant and the minor amendments to the alignment on the remainder of the route.

The potential environmental impacts of the variant alignments and any minor amendments will be identified and assessed in compliance with current legal requirements and a process approved by GDACE. The process also includes a public participation component. Phase 1 of the draft Preliminary Design Report was published on Friday, 14 October 2005. The Preferred Bidder will also commence with finalising the Environmental Management Plan (EMP) for the Gautrain project, as required by GDACE in their Record of Decision (RoD) issued in April 2004 on the EIA undertaken for the project.

Bombela has identified five sections of the route on which changes to the alignment approved in the RoD are proposed. These sections are as follows:

• A tunnelled alignment between Mushroom Farm Park in Sandton and the M1 that largely runs beneath Katherine Drive instead of beneath Strathavon.
• A lower alignment from the Marlboro tunnel portal across the Jukskei River valley beneath the N3 highway.
• A raised vertical alignment between the N1/John Vorster interchange, to the Jean Avenue Interchange with the Ben Schoeman highway in Centurion.
• A surface alignment to the east of Salvokop, instead of tunnelled beneath it, on the approach to Pretoria Station.
• An alignment that follows the existing SARCC rail reserve all the way between Pretoria Station and Hatfield Station.

A raised alignment over the R21/R24 interchange between Rhodesfield Station and JIA station is the section of the route on which the Gauteng Department of Public Transport, Roads and Works has proposed a change.

Both Felehetsa Environmental and Bohlweki Environmental will be assisted by a number of specialists in order to comprehensively assess the significance of potential positive and negative impacts (biophysical and social) associated with the variant alignments, and to propose appropriate mitigation measures where necessary.

The Gautrain project is primarily aimed at enhancing and supporting economic growth in the Gauteng Province as well as generating employment. A further aim of the project is to alleviate the traffic congestion on existing roads between Johannesburg and Pretoria. The train will be designed to travel at a speed of between 160 – 180 km/h, with an estimated travel time between Pretoria and Johannesburg of approximately 35 minutes and 12 minutes between Sandton and JIA. Three anchor stations are proposed at Pretoria Station, Park Station and the JIA, with seven other stations proposed at Hatfield, Centurion, Midrand, Marlboro, Sandton, Rosebank and Rhodesfield in Kempton Park.

Public participation process

The public participation process for the environmental investigation is a crucial mechanism to inform and involve interested and affected parties (I&APs), but also serves to elicit the issues, concerns, needs and requirements of I&APs. Jeremy Boswell, Felehetsa MD, explains: “The process aims to instill an accurate understanding of project processes and progress, promote transparency, encourage ownership of the project by I&APs, and ensure that I&APs enjoy full access to the process, including inputs to decision-making”. Mark Freeman, Bohlweki Director, concurs: “Engaging with stakeholders forms the basis of any public consultation process and offers people the opportunity to become actively involved in the project. It will ensure that broad-based information is disseminated to the community and will encourage their involvement”.

A number of mechanisms will be used to elicit comments and input from the public. These include:

• Advertisements in the media (October 2005)
• Distribution of Background Information Document to members of the public (October 2005)
• Focus group meetings (October/November 2005)
• Public meetings (end November 2005)
• Draft environmental reports for public comment

The Revision 2 EMP and the variant route maps will be available for comment during office hours from 31 October 2005 to 30 November 2005 at the following venues:

• Gautrain Project Offices, Felehetsa Environmental and Bohlweki Environmental
• Johannesburg Public Reference Library, Hillbrow Public Library and Rosebank Library, Sandown Public Library, Sandton Civic Centre
• Linbro Park Library, Modderfontein Public Library, Kempton Park Public Library, Rhodesfield High Scool
• City of Tshwane Customer Care Centre, Sammy Marks Public Library, Brooklyn Public Library
• Halfway House Public Library, Centurion Town Council, Lyttleton Public Library, Midrand Municipal Offices

Physical addresses, opening times and contact details of the above mentioned venues are available from the independent environmental consultants.

Members of the public can obtain more information on the environmental and public processes on the website for the variant alignments and the minor route amendments at the following address: www.gautrain-env.co.za. I&APs can also register on this website.

For further information on the variant alignments (Sandton, Marlboro, Centurion, Pretoria) and EMP, contact: info@gautrain-env.co.za)

For further information on the variant from Rhodesfield to JIA and additional environmental work on minor changes to the alignment, contact Bohlweki Environmental (Mr Gift Magangane or Mr Mvuselelo Mathebula at tel (011) 466 3841 or e-mail: info@gautrain-env.co.za)

Fact sheets outlining each variant alignment and visual material are available.