[DEBATE] : (Fwd) Defeat for SA dam activists

[Patrick Bond]

(SA mining win again - with '90 000' jobs to be created... and if you 
believe that, there's R104 billion in arms deal offsets to endorse next...)

www.bday.co.za

03 November 2006
Delayed De Hoop dam project gets green light at last

Agriculture and Land Affairs Editor

WATER Affairs and Forestry Minister Lindiwe Hendricks has welcomed the 
clearing of the final hurdle delaying construction of the controversial 
De Hoop dam project in Limpopo.

Last month Environmental Affairs and Tourism Minister Marthinus van 
Schalkwyk partially upheld an administrative appeal against the project.

The dam is to be built in the Steelpoort River, a major tributary of the 
Olifants, which flows past the Kruger National Park to Mozambique.

The South African Water Caucus, conservation body SANParks, the 
Endangered Wildlife Trust and Geosphere of Mozambique objected to the 
project mainly because of the potential environmental effect.

SA Water Caucus said earlier that the short-term (50-year) economic 
benefits of the project might not be worth the damage to the Olifants 
River catchment. The Olifants dried up for the first time in living 
memory last year.

Potential negative effects included removal of valuable fauna and flora 
during construction and the disruption of the river flow with an 
associated effect on aquatic and downstream users. Local communities 
upstream would have to be relocated.

Hendricks said yesterday her department welcomed Van Schalkwyk’s revised 
record of decision (RoD).

“Having analysed the RoD, I believe the decision is fair,” she said. “My 
department commissioned the R4,9bn project, of which the De Hoop Dam and 
water-conveyance infrastructure form the main components, to meet the 
urgent need for water in the middle Olifants River catchment and 
adjacent areas in the Limpopo and Mpumalanga.”

Water affairs said the project would supply rural communities still 
without a safe and reliable source of water.

Social and economic development with water being made available to the 
mining sector would also benefit communities in the area.

Mining and associated industries, the major beneficiaries of a reliable 
water supply, were expected to stimulate investment of more than R15bn 
and create about 90000 sustainable jobs, with a knock-on effect 
estimated at R2bn a year.

Van Schalkwyk’s revised RoD contained conditions for development, but 
did not detract from the need for the dam. There was no viable 
alternative for water supply to the dry Limpopo region, he said.

The revised RoD put greater emphasis on socioeconomic and environmental 
aspects that would brought about by the dam.