Heritage Cases

The proposed powerlines are located within rural areas characterized by historic communal lands and comprises rural villages. All lines are located in the Moretele Local Municipality’s jurisdiction. The adjacent Municipalities are the Local Municipality of Madibeng to the west, and the City of Tswhane Metropolitan Municipality to the south. The servitude width for a 132 kV overhead distribution power line is 31m (15.5m on either side of the centre line of the powerline). The sites for the substations will be 100m x 150m in size. The objective of the proposed power line and substation development is to strengthen the current network capacity as well as to decrease overloading on other substation networks and to improve the quality of supply in the surrounding areas. A request for future energy supply has prompted Eskom to evaluate their infrastructure in the area and look at alternatives to meet future energy demand in the area. The proposed project aims to strengthen the network capacity as well as to improve the quality of supply in the area. High energy demand activities e.g. mining are prominent in the area. Currently a large amount of pressure is placed on the existing substations and it is unlikely that it have the capacity to meet future demands. Local benefits of the proposed development include benefits to the local economy through job creation in the construction phase as well as during the operational phase of the development. The construction for the proposed power line and substation development is estimated to last for approximately 18 months and further estimate about six weeks per kilometre construction time. During the construction phase of the development, local labour (where applicable) will be sourced and where possible socially responsible local service providers will be used in order to benefit the maximum amount of people