DURBAN - The eThekwini Municipality is to weigh the pros and cons and deliberate on the implications that revised Transnet Port expansion plans would have on the city.
According to a report before the Executive Committee on Tuesday, Transnet has recently announced new plans that look to grow the Port of Durban to more than four times its current capacity, which would have a significant impact, both positive and negative, on the municipality.
eThekwini chief strategy officer Adrian Peters said the proposed long-term plans being undertaken by Transnet SOC and Transnet National Port Authority (TNPA) came with opportunities and risks.
Peters recommended that a political oversight committee be set up to oversee eThekwini's responsibility and involvement in the proposal, and that the municipality lobbied for a position on the TNPA Board that had yet to be established.
Peters said various roads and freight corridors around the port-city interface had seen significant congestion.
He said it was essential that the municipality enhance its relationship with Transnet and integrate planning further, to fully exploit the expansion plans.
Peters said the Port of Durban had significantly affected the land development around the municipal area, and resulted in many residential areas around it being exposed to trucking operations, with air quality suffering.
Peters said the road network, freight corridors and the port-city land use interface would take strain, and required significant planning.
The report said that in 2000 the Port of Durban handled 1 223 60L Twenty-Foot Equivalent Container Units (TEU); by 2015 this had grown to 2 770 335. The port generates 10 000 truck movements per day.
“This growth is significant when the current road infrastructure is not coping with the level of heavy vehicle activity.”
The report said the major cargo growth was around containers, and that container capacity was expected to grow from 2.9 million TEU to 5.5 million TEU by 2029. Container growth would thereafter take place at the proposed Durban Dig Out Port with an additional 2.4 million TEU expected by 2037.
Peters said the new plans differed from previous ones because they introduced a further 5.8 million TEU moves through the port per year.
He said the plans introduced the Point and Maydon Wharf Terminals for container expansion.
These precincts are directly connected with the inner city and Congella/Umbilo precincts. “These terminals have not been factored into city plans and have not previously been considered for further port developments. Further, the dig-out port has been removed from port expansion planning scenarios.”
Peters said previous port plans introduced container terminal infrastructure gradually over a 20-year period. He said that land transport solutions (road and rail) had not been developed for the new plans, and funding solutions for both the seaside and land side requirements were needed.
The report said rail planning remained in its infancy and rail plans were only conceptual, and they needed to be accelerated, and land transport modal splits needed to be developed with a realistic medium- and long-term rail modal share.
It also said the plans required the harbour mouth to be widened and deepened.
“Community engagements with residents around the port area remain strained, and most communities are resistant to any developments,” Peters said.
The report proposes that Transnet and the municipality work jointly to develop areas of common interest and resolve areas of misalignments.
Daily News