An independent study calling into question the economic rationale underpinning the N2 Wild Coast Project will be reviewed, but the project remains economically viable and would boost economic development in the Eastern Cape, the South African National Roads Agency (Sanral) said on Tuesday.
A funding model for the project would be announced in due course, but Sanral had reached an in-principle agreement decision with the Treasury on a hybrid model for both tolling and fiscal allocations, said Sanral’s southern region manager Mbulelo Peterson.
Lobby group Sustaining the Wild Coast has called on Finance Minister Pravin Gordhan to reprioritise funding earmaked for two bridges in the Eastern Cape, saying the cost of the N2 Wild Coast road project was escalating despite questionable objectives. Sanral, however, maintains it has amended its model and has researched all aspects of the project, but will regardless review the independent report.
A report released by the group earlier in October estimated that construction costs for the road had risen from 45% to 55% above a 2002 estimate of R2.5bn. At the same time, a mining company that planned on developing mineral sands in the Amadiba region had since halted its plans, the lobbyists said.
The two bridges were due to cost R2.5bn, an amount that had already been secured from the Treasury. Lobbyists want construction to be halted pending the outcome of an ongoing legal battle for an environmental review of the project. Peterson said the road project was not an isolated Sanral project, but that it fits into other plans by the government agency for economic development in outlying regions.
The road project had originally been proposed as a toll road from East London to Durban, but currently only the greenfields section would be tolled, he said.
Save the Wild Coast chairwoman Margie Pretorius said the region needed economic development but that communities had their own views on this.
"These communities need a bottom up approach (to economic development) … not a road that is imposed on them."
Would you like to comment on this article?
Sign up (it's quick and free) or sign in now.
Please read our Comment Policy before commenting.