Flood of Objections to Wild Coast Toll Road

January 29, 2009 press statement by SWC. For immediate release.

Flood of Objections to Wild Coast Toll Road

An unprecedented flood of thousands of objections has poured in to the consultants tasked with writing the final Report on the Wild Coast Toll Road EIA, despite holiday season timing for public comment.

The submissions have come from individuals, communities, businesses,
environmental organisations and civil society groups, while in Durban, where road users are protesting extra toll booths, local government have joined the chorus.

Many of the comments have described the EIAR as ‘fatally flawed” in many ways, but particularly in its lack of compliance with required legal standards and adherence to public participation norms.

It also

  • misleadingly characterises the project as a regional social development initiative
  • misleadingly assesses the benefits of secondary development
  • fails to assess socio-economic impacts
  • fails to assess the cumulative effects of mining and the toll road\
  • demonstrates inadequate consultation with IAPs.

    Specialist studies into relocation, land claims and sacred sites also fall short.

    Lylie Musgrave
    Kibao Communications
    On behalf of Sustaining the Wild Coast
    tel: 27 31 2613406
    fax 27 31 2616232
    mobile: 072 2970974
    email: kibao@iafrica.com
    Full transcripts of comments are available on www.swc.org.za

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