The proclamation and expropriation of land for the Gautrain Project has begun, the Gauteng Provincial Government said in a statement late on Thursday.
The proclamation of properties needed for the first phases of construction will be published in the Provincial Gazette on Friday.
The areas affected by the proclamation are Johannesburg Park Station and tunnel portal, Rosebank station, Sandton station, Marlboro tunnel portal, Marlboro station, and the maintenance yard.
“Land surveys and property valuations for all these properties have been finalised and the majority of properties are already available with owners starting to vacate at the end of April 2006.
“Those properties not yet vacated are now in the position to give final 30 day notices to their tenants as was agreed with them. These property owners will receive their official letters of proclamation/expropriation with offers for compensation from Monday 8 May 2006,” the statement added.
According to the Gauteng provincial government, discussions started with the affected property owners in October 2005 to reach agreement on early access to their properties. In terms of the Gauteng Transport Infrastructure Act (GTIA) letters of “intention to proclaim” were handed to these landowners during December 2005.
Their final comments were received early in January 2006 and were provided to the Gauteng minister for Public Transport, Roads and Works, Ignatius Jacobs. He approved the proclamation of these properties on April 26 2006.
“This is truly a milestone towards the implementation of the Gautrain Project. We have been involved in the planning and negotiations for quite some time now and at last people will be able to see the project moving forward,” said Jacobs.
“The importance of expropriation is that it allows for project construction to commence. The procurement of land of this public transport infrastructure project has to date taken place according to the GTIA,” he concluded.
Jacobs gave affected landowners the assurance that each step of proclamation and expropriation will be done according to the stipulations of this Act. “They will all be treated in a fair and just manner,” he said. – I-Net Bridge