A project sponsored by the Clairwood Logistics Group will see the introduction of Van ReibeeckWetland, a proposed new green lung for the South Durban Basin area which will also serve to boost tourism in Ward 66.
However, concerns from the South Durban Community Environmental Alliance (SDCEA) and the Bluff Rate Payers Association (BRA) have raised questions behind how the project is presenting itself. Already underway, the Environmental Planning and Climate Protection Department (EPCPD) has cleared away invasive alien trees for the past two years in favour of indigenous flora which are currently being planted.
Zoe Solomon, Ward 66 Councillor, who supports the development said: “I am sure you will join me in celebrating the preservation of a green lung and the development of an area previously unused and overgrown with alien trees, prone to invasion and the like.”
The reclaimed boardwalk from Cuttings Beach will be used to create raised walkways around and through the wetland. Ivor Aylward, from the BRA, said that paying residents should be afforded better financial transparency and quality raw materials for projects like these, similar to the recently installed whale view-point in Finnemore place. He also noted the irony that Clairwood Logistic Park had previously dumped 18 000 cubic meters of clay in the very same proposed wetland area when their waste site became overfilled. However Solomon, in response, said that the “reduce, re-use and recycle” approach was favoured and that specialists were used to assess which pieces of the deck would be re-usable.
In addition, the sponsored community project comes at no expense to rate-payers. Although seemingly positive, Desmond D’sa, head of SDCEA, stressed that the history of the Clairwood racecourse land is problematic. D’sa said: “The soil was contaminated with chrome
6 that was dug up from the racecourse site which in 2003 was flooded underground with the hexavalent via
leaking pipes from the Bayer Lanxess Factory on Tomango Road adjacent to the racecourse.”
Solomon had noted that the 300mm deep body of water on the site was made up of clay and soil from the demolished racecourse, however, environmental specialists had deemed the project safe and in compliance with Clairwood Logistics environmental offsetting motivations. D’sa said that chrome 6 was at least one to two metres deep in the area.
He said: “I believe that Van Reibeeck Park needs to be upgraded but not with chemicals in it. The wetlands at the Clairwood Racecourse must be secured and protected as per the environmental record of decision in 2012 and kept open for the community to
visit.”
