Cape Town - The City of Cape Town’s transport and development plans for the South Peninsula, which is expected to get at least 2 000 new residential units in the next few years, is based on a “flawed” road impact study, the planning portfolio committee has warned.
And while it would take about R40 million for the initial upgrade of Ou Kaapseweg and Kommetjie Road to keep pace with proposed developments, the city has only allocated R4m in this financial year.
Councillor Simon Liell-Cock said during a meeting of the spatial planning, environment and land use portfolio committee: “The community can see that the developers and city planners are following a scorched earth policy that will bring the tourist economy to a standstill. We need a detailed report for the whole of the deep south. The money that has been set aside (for upgrades) is not enough.”
He said the transport assessment that formed part of the 2005 Bulk Infrastructure Study looking at the development scenario for the Kommetjie and Sun Valley region until 2028, indicated that it would cost about R42m for the initial road upgrades needed.
Concerned residents have already raised red flags about developments in the area, and there are appeals pending against approvals for at least two projects - Wireless 1 and 2 in Kommetjie.
The Kommetjie Residents’ and Ratepayers’ Association (KRRA) has also lodged its intention to appeal the approval of Protea Ridge, which will bring just over 100 residential units into the area.
Liell-Cock said the 2005 transport impact assessment, that was revised in 2013, had fundamental flaws.
The study did not factor in other traffic sources, such as the growing number of cars coming from Masiphumelele and other parts of the south. It did not consider the fact that Chapman’s Peak, as a major route, was not always open to traffic.
Tony Viera, manager of infrastructure management and investment for the city’s transport directorate, made a short verbal presentation to the committee about the state of the road upgrades and transport plans for the South Peninsula.
Councillor Jerimia Thuynsma, of the ANC, said transport was a concern, seeing that development applications were coming in “thick and fast”.
Viera admitted that the transport impact study was limited to the Kommetjie area and needed to be revised. But he said R4m had been allocated for road upgrades in the current financial year, R1m in 2016 and R5m for future years.
Following the objections to the 2005 and 2013 traffic studies referred to in the assessment reports for Wireless 1 and 2 developments, and an independent peer review by Sturgeon Consulting that found that the study area did not deal with the traffic impact of neighbouring areas such as Glencairn and Fish Hoek, the department of environmental affairs and planning included the following condition in its development approvals: “The section of Kommetjie Main Road between Ou Kaapseweg and Capri Drive and the section of Ou Kaapseweg between Kommetjie Main Road and Buller Louw Drive must be upgraded to a four-lane dual carriageway to accommodate the revised 2018 development scenario.”
But Bruce Campbell, of the Kommetjie Residents’ and Ratepayers’ Association, later told the Cape Argus that the revisions to the transport plan did not include all the units approved and pending outside the study area.
“There is no doubt that the traffic generated from these developments will exacerbate the traffic congestion from the Glencairn/ Kommetjie Road intersection en route to Ou Kaapseweg.”
The association has argued that the traffic study was done by the developers’ consultants, and was therefore being used to justify the developments.
He said Sturgeon’s report, which found that the traffic impact assessment report considered as part of the developers’ applications was unreliable, was still not being addressed in current applications.
The “minimal” upgrades being proposed would need to be funded in part by the developers, and there was still no clarity on the anticipated costs of all the developments, and these would be financed.
The portfolio committee agreed that a detailed report of traffic scenarios in the deep south was needed before more development applications were considered.
Cape Argus