Caitlin Ross
7 October 2009
The erection of a swivel-boom on the road between Langebaan and the West Coast National Park by property developers has enraged members of the Langebaan community who have fought a 20-year battle against development on the land.
Concerned Langebaan residents say it's the latest move by the developers to intimidate members of the community and a step towards the target of shutting off access to the road entirely.
The road is one of the two that lead directly to the West Coast National Park and the only one that links it to the town of Langebaan, and the question over whether or not the road is private or public is being disputed by both sides.
Developers Dormell 391 issued an official statement saying their proposed housing development in the buffer zone between the park and the Langebann urban edge - which is opposed by SANParks, the West Coast National Park and local community groups - has for five years been unfairly denied approval.
Dormell 391 claim to have a zoning certificate and the approval of a final court order for township development and if their development continue to be stymied will change their "current goodwill" of allowing the public to use the road and close it off, denying access to the park's northern gate and the beach at Shark Bay.
"The boom has been installed as the property is private property and we reserve the right to close it at our discretion and if our applications are not now finalized and the company continues to be so unfairly prejudiced," stated the company.
But various parties have rubbished the claim that the road is private property, saying it is a proclaimed public road under the jurisdiction of the district municipality. Email correspondence between convenor of the Langebaan Action Group, Johan Ackron, and Pieter Pienaar of the Department of Transport and Public Works, contains maps showing the road is marked "Afdelingspad 1162รข-', a public road, the obstruction of which is illegal.
Manager of the West Coast National Park, Xola Mfeke, said he was "very concerned that traffic will be blocked" as 45 per cent of the Park's visitors (about 50 000 of the 130 000 people annually) enter the park through the northern gate.
"I don't believe he has a legal right to do it. I contacted the roads department in Ceres and they confirmed that it's a public proclaimed road. I'm just not happy that he has not consulted the neighbours in doing something major like that. It's not nice to wake up and see a boom outside your park. He's promised that he would not close it but I'm prepared to open an interdict against him if he does," said Mfeke.
The point of dispute arises over the fact that in 1991 the road was realigned from a gravel road, Ou Wit Pad, to the tar one currently in use. The realignment constituted a shift of 700 metres at its extremity and therefore did not require re-proclamation. The original gravel alignment of Divisional Road 1162 along the lagoon edge has, because of the realignment, fallen into disrepair and is no longer appropriate for alternative vehicular access to the Park. Ackron said that in the confrontation that has arisen over the opposition to the development proposals, the developers have at various points expressed the intention of impeding access to the Park over the land traversed by the said road 1162.
In addition to the boom, fencing and signage posts have been introduced at various points along the road to the park gate. Ackron said that "no development permission has been granted" regarding the land (Oostewal 292) that would motivate such structures. Ackron is petitioning the district roads engineer, who is currently out of office, to have all the structures removed.
Quoted from http://www.flyafrica.info
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Tuesday, October 13, 2009
Yzerfontein named as proposed site for third SA gateway
SA telecommunications network operators want to build a third international submarine cable landing station along the SA coastline to provide an alternative route for the landing stations at Melkbosstrand north of Cape Town and at Mtunzini north of Durban.
Speaking to TechCentral in Cape Town on Monday, Telkom executive for global capacity business, Johan Meyer (pictured), said the landing station would be built at Yzerfontein, 50km north of the Melkbosstrand facility.
However, the construction of the facility was dependent on the completion of a full environmental impact assessment. This assessment could take up to a year to complete, Meyer said.
He said it is now considered good practice for a country to have three international gateways to better cope with submarine cable outages caused by earthquakes, ships’ anchors and fishing trawlers.
Two international cables already land at Mtunzini, with a third, the East African Submarine System (Eassy), to land there next year. And Melkbosstrand is already home to Sat-3/Safe — which connects SA with Portugal and Malaysia — and Sat-2.
A third gateway would ensure that there is more than one fallback if there is a cut in connectivity at, say, Melkbosstrand.
The idea is to land the upcoming West African Cable System (Wacs) at the proposed new site at Yzerfontein.
Wacs is a high-capacity cable that will connect SA with the UK when it goes live in mid-2011. Telkom is an investor in Wacs. Other SA operators that have put money into its construction include MTN and state-owned Broadband Infraco. — Duncan McLeod, TechCentral
Thursday, October 8, 2009
Office National Diary giveaway
I was just testing to see if you can upload pictures directly to the blog (adverts) from googles picasso, and you can! cool
Friday, September 25, 2009
40 children will learn to ride waves in the South African Bodyboarding Championships
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This year’s SA Champs has changed in format from previous years. In the past, the hosting province decided at which beach the competition would be run, and the duration of that event would be dedicated to only that beach. This year, Boland Bodyboarding Association, the host, has worked with the Cederberg Municipality to ensure that they have a “roaming venue”. This means that not only one beach has to be used but if conditions are better suited for another surf break, the whole contest can be moved to that beach and contested there. What this also means, is that no one rider, getting accustomed to the surf spot and conditions, gets a “growing” advantage during the competition. This allows for fair competition amongst the riders. Exciting competitors to look out for from the 6 competing provinces, are Vaughn Harris from Boland, defending junior champ, David Lilienfield, Sacha Specker and Daniel Worsley from Western Province, Derek Footit and David Lee from Southern Natal, Charles Pass from Central Natal and World Tour campaigner and wildcard entry Mark McCarthy from Northern Natal. One of the most exciting and promising projects to come out of this year’s SA Champs is the inclusion of KUMBA IRON ORE and the development clinic they are running with the help of all the provincial teams. Kumba Iron Ore and Boland Bodyboarding Association have made it possible for 80 local children in the Lamberts Bay area to learn the sport of Bodyboarding along with water safety. Kumba Iron Ore has generously donated bodyboarding gear to all the children who attend the once -in -a -lifetime clinic with some of South Africa’s best bodyboarders. The handover will take place on Lamberts Bay beach on Monday the 28th at 15:00. To follow the progress of the event day by day, go to www.sixty40.co.za |
Sunday, September 13, 2009
possible radar interference from wind turbines planned for the west coast.
British high-technology missions systems and information management company BAE Systems Insyte has been invited to, and will, bid for a South African requirement to investigate possible radar interference from wind turbines planned to be established on the country's west coast.
"Insyte has already done such a study for a wind farm planned to the east of London," reports Insyte Head of Business Development: Asia Pacific and South Africa Steve Kilvington.
"Heathrow Airport was concerned this would interfere with its air traffic control radars. We were able to establish that wind turbines at the planned location would be below the radar horizon from Heathrow and would not interfere with its radar."
Reportedly, the South African Air Force (SAAF), which has an air base at Langebaanweg, is concerned that wind turbines could interfere with the base's radar. Langenbaanweg is the home of the Central Flying School, which carries out the SAAF's basic flying training.
The potential problem is that the rotating arms of the turbines giant propellers could reflect radar pulses in multiple directions, which could create an interference pattern on the radar screen or, even worse, generate anomalous returns on the screen, confusing the air traffic controllers (there could appear to be more aircraft flying than there really were, or an aircraft's position, as displayed on the radar screen, might not be its real position) and so causing them to issue instructions that cause, not prevent, a crash.
Insyte has previously worked in South Africa, on phase one of the South African Army's Ground-based Air Defence System programme. The British company worked with South African companies Reutech Radar Systems and Cybersim on this programme. (BAE Systems bought Cybersim, but subsequently sold it to Saab; BAE Systems owns 20% of Saab).
"South Africa is interesting for business," says Kilvington.
Insyte operates some 90 laboratories across the UK.
A number of companies are undertaking studies to generate electricity from wind in the Western Cape.
Power utility Eskom is planning a 100-MW wind farm, close to the town of Koekenaap.
The Oelsner Group will also start an environmental-impact assessment for a R1,5-billion 70-MW wind farm near the town of Darling, in the Western Cape. The proposed wind farm will be located on the State-owned Langefontein farm, which was once the site of an apartheid-era military radio station.
(Keith Campbell is attending the DESi as a guest of BAE Systems)
"Insyte has already done such a study for a wind farm planned to the east of London," reports Insyte Head of Business Development: Asia Pacific and South Africa Steve Kilvington.
"Heathrow Airport was concerned this would interfere with its air traffic control radars. We were able to establish that wind turbines at the planned location would be below the radar horizon from Heathrow and would not interfere with its radar."
Reportedly, the South African Air Force (SAAF), which has an air base at Langebaanweg, is concerned that wind turbines could interfere with the base's radar. Langenbaanweg is the home of the Central Flying School, which carries out the SAAF's basic flying training.
The potential problem is that the rotating arms of the turbines giant propellers could reflect radar pulses in multiple directions, which could create an interference pattern on the radar screen or, even worse, generate anomalous returns on the screen, confusing the air traffic controllers (there could appear to be more aircraft flying than there really were, or an aircraft's position, as displayed on the radar screen, might not be its real position) and so causing them to issue instructions that cause, not prevent, a crash.
Insyte has previously worked in South Africa, on phase one of the South African Army's Ground-based Air Defence System programme. The British company worked with South African companies Reutech Radar Systems and Cybersim on this programme. (BAE Systems bought Cybersim, but subsequently sold it to Saab; BAE Systems owns 20% of Saab).
"South Africa is interesting for business," says Kilvington.
Insyte operates some 90 laboratories across the UK.
A number of companies are undertaking studies to generate electricity from wind in the Western Cape.
Power utility Eskom is planning a 100-MW wind farm, close to the town of Koekenaap.
The Oelsner Group will also start an environmental-impact assessment for a R1,5-billion 70-MW wind farm near the town of Darling, in the Western Cape. The proposed wind farm will be located on the State-owned Langefontein farm, which was once the site of an apartheid-era military radio station.
(Keith Campbell is attending the DESi as a guest of BAE Systems)
Monday, July 20, 2009
Transnet sets new records
Transnet Freight Rail (TFR) reported on Thursday that it achieved a new weekly throughput record, of 919 000 t of iron-ore, which was transported last week from the mines of the Northern Cape mines to the deep-water West Coast harbour of Saldanha Bay.
The figure was nearly 19 500 t better than the previous Sishen-Saldanha corridor record of 899 592 t, which was achieved a week earlier.
For its 2009/10 financial year, TFR was planning to rail 46,4-million tons along the corridor, implying weekly volumes of more than 892 000 t. This mean that it was closing in on the 47-million ton volume milestone set as part of a R8,7-billion expansion of the link.
Indeed, CEO Siyabonga Gama said on Thursday that the State-owned railways utility was now targeting one-million tons a week - an ambition that was closely linked to the development of new loops, known as 7a and 7b, which should be completed this year.
In the year to March 31, 2009, TFR railed some 37-million tons down the corridor, making it one of the few areas of volume growth for 2008/9 - coal volumes slumped to less than 62-million from 63,5-million tons in 2007/8 and general freight volumes slumping to 77-million tons in 2008/9 from more than 83-million tons.
It was still targeting 65,6-million tons for the coal line, but had railed only 17,5-million tons between March 26 and July 12.
The most recent improvements on the iron-ore line were reportedly aided by the corridor's investment in radio distributed-power trains, with the thousandth such train having operated last week.
But Gama also stressed that the performance had been achieve on the back of improved communication with customers and "meticulous planning". Capacity had also been increased to allow more volumes to be transported from Assmang's Khumani mine.
The R8,7-billion two-phase expansion of the corridor was also advancing, with the first phase, aimed at raising volumes to 41-million tons a year, nearing completion.
The ‘Phase 1B' investment, which was designed to increase yearly throughput to 47-million tons.
This expansion included the acquisition of 44 locomotives, with the first batch of new 19 E locomotives to be operational in February 2010. But the current improvements have been achieved in the absence of the new rolling stock.
Further, Transnet had approved a R4,3-billion third phase to raise throughput to 60-million tons, with TFR confirming that work was already under way on the project.
However, there was still concern that the State rail utility remained a serious constraint to South Africa's iron-ore growth, despite the recent slowdown in demand and pullback in prices. There was emerging consensus, that iron-ore volumes and prices were set to recover, with iron-ore spot prices having recently moved above price levels set during recent negotiations between miners and steelmakers.
A public-private partnership had been mooted to align rail capacity to the growth aspirations of miners such as Kumba Iron Ore (KIO) and Assmang, as well as to increase efficiencies and contain costs.
At this stage, though, Transnet had simply agreed to make available up to 12-million tons of additional cumulative capacity in the period from 2009 to 2011. In return, the miners had signed take-or-pay agreements for this additional volume.
JSE-listed KIO planned to raise production by 10% during the year, despite the lower prices, and had near-term prospects that could raise its output to close to 50-million tons, most of which would be for export. The Sishen mine produced 34-million tons in 2008.
Meanwhile, Assmang had plans to raise capacity at its Khumani mine to 16-million tons a year.
Assmang, too, had signed a contract with Transnet for its next four-million tons of export iron-ore, which was due to kick in from July 1, 2012.
The figure was nearly 19 500 t better than the previous Sishen-Saldanha corridor record of 899 592 t, which was achieved a week earlier.
For its 2009/10 financial year, TFR was planning to rail 46,4-million tons along the corridor, implying weekly volumes of more than 892 000 t. This mean that it was closing in on the 47-million ton volume milestone set as part of a R8,7-billion expansion of the link.
Indeed, CEO Siyabonga Gama said on Thursday that the State-owned railways utility was now targeting one-million tons a week - an ambition that was closely linked to the development of new loops, known as 7a and 7b, which should be completed this year.
In the year to March 31, 2009, TFR railed some 37-million tons down the corridor, making it one of the few areas of volume growth for 2008/9 - coal volumes slumped to less than 62-million from 63,5-million tons in 2007/8 and general freight volumes slumping to 77-million tons in 2008/9 from more than 83-million tons.
It was still targeting 65,6-million tons for the coal line, but had railed only 17,5-million tons between March 26 and July 12.
The most recent improvements on the iron-ore line were reportedly aided by the corridor's investment in radio distributed-power trains, with the thousandth such train having operated last week.
But Gama also stressed that the performance had been achieve on the back of improved communication with customers and "meticulous planning". Capacity had also been increased to allow more volumes to be transported from Assmang's Khumani mine.
The R8,7-billion two-phase expansion of the corridor was also advancing, with the first phase, aimed at raising volumes to 41-million tons a year, nearing completion.
The ‘Phase 1B' investment, which was designed to increase yearly throughput to 47-million tons.
This expansion included the acquisition of 44 locomotives, with the first batch of new 19 E locomotives to be operational in February 2010. But the current improvements have been achieved in the absence of the new rolling stock.
Further, Transnet had approved a R4,3-billion third phase to raise throughput to 60-million tons, with TFR confirming that work was already under way on the project.
However, there was still concern that the State rail utility remained a serious constraint to South Africa's iron-ore growth, despite the recent slowdown in demand and pullback in prices. There was emerging consensus, that iron-ore volumes and prices were set to recover, with iron-ore spot prices having recently moved above price levels set during recent negotiations between miners and steelmakers.
A public-private partnership had been mooted to align rail capacity to the growth aspirations of miners such as Kumba Iron Ore (KIO) and Assmang, as well as to increase efficiencies and contain costs.
At this stage, though, Transnet had simply agreed to make available up to 12-million tons of additional cumulative capacity in the period from 2009 to 2011. In return, the miners had signed take-or-pay agreements for this additional volume.
JSE-listed KIO planned to raise production by 10% during the year, despite the lower prices, and had near-term prospects that could raise its output to close to 50-million tons, most of which would be for export. The Sishen mine produced 34-million tons in 2008.
Meanwhile, Assmang had plans to raise capacity at its Khumani mine to 16-million tons a year.
Assmang, too, had signed a contract with Transnet for its next four-million tons of export iron-ore, which was due to kick in from July 1, 2012.
Friday, July 10, 2009
Gas pipeline for the West Coast, South Africa
Gigajoule Africa has submitted a license application to the National Energy Regulator of South Africa for the supply, transmission, distribution and trading of gas in the Cape West Coast region.
Two supply options are being considered: the sourcing of marine compressed natural gas (CNG) from the Kudu gas field in Namibia, where the field joint venture partners are currently evaluating a development scheme for transporting the gas by marine CNG vessel to an offshore delivery point along the West Coast.
The second supply option is to obtain LNG from international LNG portfolio suppliers and delivering it to an offshore delivery point along the West Coast.
Gigajoule recently signed a Memorandum of Understanding with operator of the Kudu field, Tullow Kudu, in order to work together to establish the technical and commercial viability for the supply of CNG from the field.
Gigajoule Africa managing director Johan de Vos said that it is envisaged the project will be developed in phases. The first phase will involve the construction of an offshore submerged terminal, an onshore gas treatment plant, and 225 km of transmission and distribution pipelines to feed the gas to the Cape West Coast markets.
The second phase includes the construction of a pipeline to the north and east to supply customers in the Saldanha Bay and inland region.
The Kudu gas field has 1P gas reserves of 1 Tcf, which is expected to deliver CNG to the West Coast region and Namibian market for at least a decade. Gigajoule has said that gas supply could commence as early as 2014.
Two supply options are being considered: the sourcing of marine compressed natural gas (CNG) from the Kudu gas field in Namibia, where the field joint venture partners are currently evaluating a development scheme for transporting the gas by marine CNG vessel to an offshore delivery point along the West Coast.
The second supply option is to obtain LNG from international LNG portfolio suppliers and delivering it to an offshore delivery point along the West Coast.
Gigajoule recently signed a Memorandum of Understanding with operator of the Kudu field, Tullow Kudu, in order to work together to establish the technical and commercial viability for the supply of CNG from the field.
Gigajoule Africa managing director Johan de Vos said that it is envisaged the project will be developed in phases. The first phase will involve the construction of an offshore submerged terminal, an onshore gas treatment plant, and 225 km of transmission and distribution pipelines to feed the gas to the Cape West Coast markets.
The second phase includes the construction of a pipeline to the north and east to supply customers in the Saldanha Bay and inland region.
The Kudu gas field has 1P gas reserves of 1 Tcf, which is expected to deliver CNG to the West Coast region and Namibian market for at least a decade. Gigajoule has said that gas supply could commence as early as 2014.
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