Heritage Cases

NOTCE / INVITATION TO PARTICIPATE: Notice is hereby given in terms of regulations published in Government Notice R. 982 in Government Gazette No.38282 of December 2014, as amended, under Section 24(5) and 44, of the National Environmental Management Act, 1998 (Act No. 107 of 1998), as amended, that The proposed amendment of the Environmental Authorization falls within the ambit of amendments to be applied for in terms of Part 2 of Chapter 5 of the Environmental Impact Assessment Regulations (2014), as amended which requires that the Public Participation to be conducted. Interested and Affected Parties are there for invited to participate by submitting their comments to Tebogo Chauke on Tel: 0136932714, E-mail ChaukeTA@eskom.co.za on or before 05 May 2019 regarding the above mentioned amendment. Reason for amendment: During the negotiations with the land owner (Mr Hyman Desmond), the current approved EA route was rejected by the land owner saying it will negatively impact on their farming activities. The land owner indicated that if Eskom implement the current EA approved route, they won’t be able to fly the area for crop spraying. The landowner wants Eskom to purchase the whole portion affected by the approved route which is way too much than what is budgeted for the project or use the route alternative two hence Eskom is requesting the Department of Environmental affairs to amend the existing EA to authorise the route alternative two(2). Amending the route will avoid the landowner issues entirely and will continue to achieve the initial motivation for the proposed development of which is to assist Transnet (SOC) Ltd (Transnet) in increasing its export coal capacity to 81MTPA and to upgrade the Direct Current (DC) sections on the Woestalleen Transnet traction site as well as on the corresponding Eskom sides. These objectives are in line with the country’s Strategic Infrastructure Project (SIP 10) namely “Electricity transmission and distribution for all”. The project serves to ―expand the transmission and distribution network to address historical imbalances, provide access to electricity for all and support economic development. Align the 10-year transmission plan, the services backlog, the national broadband roll-out and the freight rail line development to leverage off regulatory approvals, supply chain and project development capacity. Impact on heritage and cultural resources Heritage specialist confirmed that no sites, features or objects of cultural heritage significance were found in the development area. As no sites, features or objects of cultural heritage significance were found in the development area, there would be no impact as a result of the proposed development. The proposed amendment route is situated in the farm, De Groote Rietpan 479 JS Portion 2, Woestalleen 477 JS, Woestalleen 477 JS, Portion 8. Eskom Holdings is the biggest producer of electricity in South Africa and is a vertically integrated company licensed to generate, transmit and distribute electricity. A distribution operation constructs and maintains equipment that transforms the power supply to the type that meets the customer's needs. Reliable network performance targets necessitate that Eskom Distribution improves present distribution network performance levels. The need and desirability for this specific development is to assist Transnet (SOC) Ltd (Transnet) in increasing its export coal capacity to 81MTPA and to upgrade the Direct Current (DC) sections on the Woestalleen Transnet traction site as well as on the corresponding Eskom sides. Local benefits of the proposed development include benefits to the local economy through possible job creation and local supplier procurement during the construction phase as well as during the operational phase of the development. The project qualifies as a Strategic Infrastructure Project (SIP 10), namely “Electricity transmission and distribution for all”. The project serves to “expand the transmission and distribution network to address historical imbalances, provide access to electricity for all and support economic development. Align the 10-year transmission plan, the services backlog, the national broadband roll-out and the freight rail line development to leverage off regulatory approvals, supply chain and project development capacity”.