Clearing of site could start in March

Should Thyspunt be chosen as the site for the proposed nuclear reactor, construction could begin as early as 2019.

Eskom officials told councilors of the Sarah Baartman District Municipality this yesterday.

Eskom’s chief nuclear officer, David Nicholls, said clearing of the site at Thyspunt could happen as early as March.

Energy Minister Tina Joemat-Pettersson unveiled a draft integrated resource plan (IRP) for public comment on Tuesday.

It is expected to be signed off by the cabinet in March.

“You will start seeing activities once we get these approvals in place,” Nicholls said.

“A typical example would be the roads we are going to rebuild in the area – from Humansdorp to Oyster Bay and Cape St Francis to the site.”

Eskom’s nuclear project director, Loyiso Tyabashe, said the tender process would take about two years to finalise.

“Procurement will take between18 months and two years,”Tyabashe said.

“After that, if we get environmental impact assessments and the nuclear site licence, minor works like access roads to the site will start.

“We expect construction to start as soon as we get the two licences and we can get the finances.”

Councillors had opposing views on the presentation by Eskom.

The ANC’s Vernon Stuurman said councillors should embrace the projects as they would boost the district’s economy.

“We have been presented with an opportunity here,” he said.

“We can never be naïve enough to say it is not good enough for our people.”

DA councillor Bryan Dludlu said he was worried about the whole project as it was not clear what was expected of the Kouga region.

“Kouga will be 100% affected as sewerage and water will be from there. It must be clear as to what is expected from Kouga.”

Fellow DA councillor Horatio Hendricks said: “This attitude of ‘you can have an opinion as long as you share our opinion’ is not right.

“Kouga needs to be involved in all the processes [as] this will happen under the Kouga Municipality.”

Speaker Nonkqubela Pieters said it was clear the Thyspunt project was a thorny issue and a workshop would be held next year to explain it to councilors.