Why N2 North mega-housing development project was vetoed in 2017

Weekend Post got a close-up look at the N2 North development site during the Great Baakens Expedition undertaken in 2017 following the decision by the provincial Department of Economic Development Environmental Affairs and Tourism (Dedeat) to veto the project.

The team discovered that the first four kilometres of the river’s north-most tributary starting at Algoa Steel in Cape Road in Greenbushes were thick with alien black wattle.

Part of the N2 North project site between Baywest Boulevard and the N2, however, was covered in indigenous fynbos.

This week, Dr Mike Cohen, whose company Cen Integrated Environmental Management Unit did the original environmental impact assessment of the N2 North project, said the initial veto from the authorities was issued because of the high sensitivity of the area and its importance to the Baakens River ecosystem.

“There were significant predicted impacts associated with the proposed development and we proposed a large number of mitigation measures in an effort to reduce them.”

“If this project goes ahead perhaps the developers can look at reducing the density of the housing to further mitigate the potential impacts.”

Baakens Valley Preservation Trust’s Steff Schenk said the trust was dismayed by Dedeat MEC Mlungisi Mvoko’s ruling that he would uphold the metro’s appeal against his department’s 2017 decision, as the reasons the trust had opposed the project still stood.

“One reason is that it will create urban sprawl. That means long service delivery chains and high transport costs. So is it reasonable? Is it sensible?”

Developments like Baywest had already caused considerable damage in the upper Baakens Valley and there was no need for further development in the catchment, he said.

There were other more suitable areas to develop housing like the new Westbrook suburb near Parson’s Ridge where the Ridge project had already been approved.”

Even if conditions were set in place, developers typically ignored them and there was little follow-up action from the metro to ensure these were complied with, he said.

Wildline’s Arnold Slabbert who led the Weekend Post expedition said the sewerage system in the valley was already overloaded and regularly burst or overflowed sending pollution straight into the river and out into the bay.

“So now we will have much more sewage and unless something changes radically a worse situation where in the end the environment suffers.”

In his support for the original decision by Dedeat, former metro parks department director Dr Paul Martin said although Baakens water was not harvested for drinking, the river flow, filtered by reed beds, recharged groundwater. This process was important to balance the upswing in boreholes being sunk in the metro, he said.

Another environmental expert, who asked not to be named, said the MEC’s motivation was weak.

“He did not give any meaningful reasons for overturning his own department’s decision. On such a sensitive site one would like to see a substantive motivation.”