Concerned residents of Franschhoek gathered at the Lord’s Acre Christian Community Centre in Groendal this week to hear more about the proposed Franschhoek Cableway Company’s Skytram project.
A group of residents, who scrutinised the more than 2 000 pages of the environmental impact assessment (EIA) prepared by Doug Jeffery Environmental Consultants and the land-use application prepared by David Hellig & Abrahamse (DHAA), delivered a short presentation to those in attendance.
The public participation process for the land-use application closed last Thursday (25 July), giving those in support of and opposing the project an opportunity have their say.
The environmental consultants and DHAA will now scrutinise the comments in order for the The Franschhoek Cableway Company to decide whether to proceed with the next round of the application process, which would entail a further round of public participation as part of the EIA process.
A group of residents in opposition to the project, including the Franschhoek Heritage and Ratepayers’ Association (FHRPA), submitted comment during both public participation processes, substantiated in part by experts in their fields.
Some took it upon themselves to meet with the Groendal community share information on their submissions and their take on how the project impact the Franschhoek community.
This after they realised the community is less informed, as many of do not have access to the internet or social media to educate themselves on the public participation process.
Therefore, during the sessions in Groendal, the presentation focused on appealing to this community, who will affected by the proposed venture.
Expressing concerns
For the purpose of the presentation, the group’s concerns regarding the EIA were condensed into 10 points, with the most important being the negative impact of mass tourism, infrastructure strain, increased wildfire risk and insufficient socio-economic benefits.
The presenters explained that mass tourism will bring large crowds to the town – apparently more than its current infrastructure can handle.
According to the group, this will then disturb the luxury-tourism industry, which the town prides itself on, and change the look and feel of the town in its entirety – from a laid-back, slow-paced environment to one of constant hustle and bustling of tourist buses, e-hailing services and other vehicles.
Project’s effects
The comments to the electrical impact of Skytram, written by a local electrical engineer, raise significant concerns about the suitability of Franschhoek’s power grid for this project, the presentation also highlighted.
“Franschhoek’s power supply is at maximum capacity and the electrical infrastructure is unsuitable for Skytram,” a presenter said.
“A new dedicated power supply would need to be created for the project to proceed, and this will most likely require a trench to be dug through Huguenot Street, inconveniencing other existing businesses and their patrons.”
The Cape Winelands are also known for its wildfires during the sweltering summer months.
According to the presenter, the EIA by Doug Jeffery Environmental Consultants and the DHAA’s land-use application seems to provide few mitigation measures in the case of a fire.
According to the presentation, the concerned residents are still unsure how The Franschhoek Cableway Company will effectively ensure that no lives, as well as fauna and flora, will be lost.
The team of experts scrutinising the reports also came to the conclusion that the project will offer little to no socio-economic benefits to an already marginalised Groendal community as only 37 post-construction jobs will be created. There is also no clarity on whether these jobs would be temporary or permanent positions.
The formal reports declared outside contractors would be used to construct the cable car, as it is a niche task in need of a specialised labour.
Groendal residents in attendance raised concerns about the impact an influx of skilled migrant labour into Franschhoek would have on them.
