Comments HIA De Villiers

<body topmargin=0 leftmargin=0 marginheight=0 marginwidth=0> <table cellpadding=0 cellspacing=0 border=0 height="100%"><tr> <td valign="top" width=30 BGCOLOR="#0066CC" TEXT="#080000"> <bR> </td> <td valign="top" width="100%" style=" border-left: 1px solid #3366CC;" BGCOLOR="#000066" TEXT="#F7F7FF"> <div> <B>Tulbagh Info Information</B></div> <div> Comments HIA De Villiers</div> <div> <TABLE BORDER="0" CELLPADDING="1" CELLSPACING="1" WIDTH="120" BORDERCOLORLIGHT="#C0C0C0" BORDERCOLORDARK="#808080" FRAME="BOX" RULES="ALL" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" > <tR> <tD VALIGN=CENTER BGCOLOR=#0099CC HEIGHT= 15 ><NOBR><div> <A HREF="local_news.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Tulbagh News Page 2"><U>Back to Local News</U></A></div> </NOBR></tD> </tR> </TABLE></div> <bR> <div> Dear Ken.<FONT SIZE="3" COLOR="#FFFFFF" FACE="Arial" > </FONT></div> <bR> <div> We are registered as I & AP's regarding this proposed power line.<FONT SIZE="3" COLOR="#FFFFFF" FACE="Arial" > </FONT></div> <bR> <div> We attended the presentation of the HIA held at Morgansvlei towards the end of last year.<FONT SIZE="3" COLOR="#FFFFFF" FACE="Arial" > </FONT></div> <div> I am writing to you in my capacity as an architect practicing in the Tulbagh Valley as well as my capacity as the owner of a smallholding to the South of the R46 near the Tulbaghweg Station and the Nuwekloof Pass. Over the last 4 years Francois Swanepoel (co-owner of the property) and myself have invested a huge amount of money on this property in order to establish a guesthouse. Tourism and architecture are thus our main spheres of business. The views (mainly of the Nuwekloof pass and the hill behind the brick factory and towards Groot Winterhoek) from our property have been hugely instrumental in the success of this tourism venture. Our venture has grown over the past years and we now permanently employ 3 (previously disadvantaged) people from the village of Tulbagh. It is a fact that they, in turn, support quite a number of people on the salary which we pay them. As an architect I also have first-hand experience of the importance the architectural heritage and the natural beauty holds for this area - it is the life blood of this valley and the main reasons for both local and foreign investment in Tulbagh.</div> <div> With this I am hoping to strengthen previous arguments that Eskom's proposed power line across the Tulbagh Valley will have a serious negative impact on the life-blood of this area (and the adjacent areas of Prince Alfred's hamlet, Gouda, Riebeek Kasteel, etc.).</div> <bR> <div> Besides this, I would also like to comment on the so-called HIA which was presented to us at Morganslvei Estate.<FONT SIZE="3" COLOR="#FFFFFF" FACE="Arial" ><B> </B></FONT><B>Our comments are</B><FONT SIZE="3" COLOR="#FFFFFF" FACE="Arial" ><B> </B></FONT><B>provisional and under duress, given that we have had insufficient time, insufficient information and more especially since the period for comments coincided with the December holiday period which has made it difficult for us (and others who do not have the privilege of a home computer with a CD-Rom) to adequately grasp the impact this power line will have on our lives and the heritage of this area.</B></div> <bR> <div> 1. Firstly I must (also) insist that<FONT SIZE="3" COLOR="#FFFFFF" FACE="Arial" > </FONT>Eskom grants an extention to the deadline for the submission of comments to 30 January 2009 seeing as many people were unable to comment during this festive season and also due to the fact that the information was not made available to the public as promised at the presentaiton. </div> <div> 2.. The presentation was a waste of time in my view. The visual impact of the proposed line was not presented to the attendees (nor is it included in the material given to us). Nowhere could one get an idea of the actual scale of the pylons in relation to the major features of the valley or the actual effect of these on the views from various points in the valley or from major roads leading into Tulbagh or through the valley or the Nuwekloof Pass. There were very colourful maps with bright colour-coded "contours" representing some theoretical formula of the effective visual height of the line in relation to ones distance from it… I am afraid this does not do it! I am sure that Eskom spent a substantial amount of our money on this impact assessment and one would think that the kind of expertise they appointed would have at least come up with some realistic 3D presentaions of the vallley with the REAL SIZE LINE super-imposed in 3D on it…..</div> <div> 3. What is worse is that the presentation was, in fact, misleading. When asked for a photograph of one of these new pylons, we were shown a photograph of a pylon taken somewhere in the winelands (judging from the vegetation in the background (fruit orchard, vines, etc.)) THIS AFTER WE WERE TOLD IN THE PRESENTAION THAT THE ONLY EXISTING PYLONS OF THIS (PROPOSED) SIZE ARE NEAR DE AAR / SOMEWHERE IN THE KAROO.) When I pointed this out to one of the representatives at the presentaiotn they admitted that the picture showed a "normal" pylon and not one of the large proposed ones. WHAT IS THE USE!?</div> <div> 4. I must also point out that the heritage of this valley does not only consist of a few homesteads which have been selected by Eskom's consultants. The fact of the matter is that the ENTIRE VALLEY is an important heritage area. A few facts to consider is that this valley was (for many decades) the only gateway to the interior. The first pass (remnants are still visible) through the mountains was at Roodezand / Oude Kloof. The first (and still the only) railway line linking the Cape with the interior is though this valley. My argument is that this unsightly power line will impact on these<FONT SIZE="3" COLOR="#FFFFFF" FACE="Arial" ><B> </B></FONT><B>historical routes</B><FONT SIZE="3" COLOR="#FFFFFF" FACE="Arial" > </FONT>as much as they will on the views from selected homesteads, etc. The valley is also home to a number of well-preserved blockhouses along the above-mentioned railway line.</div> <div> 5. One encouraging thing I did notice is that the Heritage Impact Assessment does state / indicate that the line will have a "VERY HIGH HERITAGE IMPACT" where it passes through the Tulbagh Valley.</div> <div> So now all we can hope for is that this actually means something to the "Power(s) that be"….<FONT SIZE="3" COLOR="#FFFFFF" FACE="Arial" > </FONT></div> <div> 6. For what it is worth, we share the opinion of some other I & AP's that Tulbagh's economy and the livelihood of many will be negatively affected if this power line goes ahead as planned / proposed.</div> <div> It makes no sense whatsoever to erect ANOTHER POWER LINE IN ANOTHER POSITION across the same valley. (There is already on near Wolseley, cutting across the Boontjies River area). It also makes no sense to take it through a fairly well-populated valley where tourism and agri-tourism is the main industry and where one finds one of the highest concentrations of historical routes and buildings.</div> <div> 7. The power line should be re-routed to cross a less sensitive area to the north or it should be taken along at ground level (much like one would do a pipeline…) or taken underground in sections.</div> <div> In the greater scheme of things (the billions being borrowed by Eskom for expansion, the huge scale of the total length of the new distribution network being planned across the country and the end-users' imminent rate hikes) this will surely not break Eskom's bank. I must comment that the scar which will potentially be left on the natural vegetation if the line is taken underground on the mountain slopes concerns me - I was thus wondering if it will be at all possible (and maybe a little less expensive) if the line (cables?) were put in a dark coloured pipe (black, olive green?) running above ground…. Just an "out of the box suggestion?"… This might be better than a scar across the (protected) Rhenosterbos.</div> <div> 8. We are not sure how many people are aware of the huge Eskom power station which was built (it must have been in the 80's) ENTIRELY UNDERGROUND. We had the privilege of visiting it in the 80"s - the scale of this underground power station is awe-inspiring to say the least. It is hidden beneath the earth near the Oliviershoek / Van Reenen Passes in the Northern Kwazulu-Natal Drakensberg - mainly to protect the views in this pristine area. </div> <div> <FONT SIZE="2" COLOR="#FFFFFF" FACE="Arial" >Taken from randwater.co.za:<I> "</I></FONT><I>This section of the scheme is used to generate electricity as a hydroelectric power station</I><I><U> has been built within the mountains of the Drakensberg.</U></I><I> This power station, known as the Drakensberg Pumped Storage Scheme, is managed by Eskom and electricity that is produced here is fed into the national electricity grid. At peak periods (morning & afternoon) when electricity is need, water is dropped from the Driekloof Dam, through the hydroelectric turbines, and into the Kilburn Dam. In quite periods the water is pumped back from the Kilburn Dam and into the Driekloof Dam. When the Driekloof Dam is full water flows over a weir and into the Sterkfontein Dam, where it is stored. The Sterkfontein Dam has a surface area of 67 square kilometres, an average depth of 93 metres, and a total storage capacity of 2,62 billion cubic metres. "</I></div> <div> Surely if a whole power sation can be built underground (IN SOUTH AFRICA), Eskom can do SOMETHING to save this valley!!!</div> <div> That much for our preliminay comments. </div> <div> Yours faithfully.<FONT SIZE="3" COLOR="#FFFFFF" FACE="Arial" > </FONT></div> <div> Joe de Villiers & Francois Swanepoel.<FONT SIZE="3" COLOR="#FFFFFF" FACE="Arial" > </FONT></div> <div> (Joe de Villiers Architect / Shisa Guest Farm) </div> <div> Tulbagh Road, Tulbagh. </div> <bR> </td> <td valign="top" width=28 style=" border-top: 1px solid #0066CC; border-left: 1px solid #0066CC;border-right: 1px solid #0066CC; border-bottom: 1px solid #0066CC;" BGCOLOR="#0066CC" TEXT="#080000"> <bR> </td> </tr></table></body>