[DEBATE] : (Fwd) SDCEA sez: Keep the oil in the soil, don't give it to Joburg, please

[Patrick Bond]

(The way it's reported, this crit of the R50 bn pipeline sounds like 
'not in my backyard', but there's a deeper eco-social project here...)

The Mercury

Residents oppose route of multipurpose pipeline

October 07, 2008 Edition 1

JEFF WICKS

Residents of the South Durban basin have vowed to fight the construction 
of a proposed multipurpose pipeline between Durban and Heidelberg, which 
will pass through Clairwood.

Disgruntled residents made this pledge to Transnet consultants at a 
meeting in Clairwood last night.

Two routes for the pipeline, one running north from Durban and another 
running south, had been assessed, with the latter proving more viable.

Topographical and social restraints precluded the new trunk line running 
adjacent to the existing Durban-Johannesburg pipeline, which runs 
through a northern corridor.

Residents accused Transnet of cost-cutting and an unwillingness to run a 
pipeline through "rich white areas", including Westville, Gillitts and 
Hillcrest. Several residents suggested that the pipeline should run 
adjacent to present rail servitudes, and would accept nothing else from 
Transnet.

With the coastal fuel terminal at Durban International Airport, a trunk 
line would leave the airport near the northern end of Reunion township 
and turn to follow South Coast Road.

 From Island View, a line would leave the port and follow the 
Amanzinyama Canal up to Clairwood Race Course, then the South Coast 
railway line to the Umlaas River.

Two types of petrol, two types of diesel as well as jet fuel would be 
transported in batches in the pipeline, which will come into operation 
in 2010.