The Gauteng Rapid Rail team on Thursday unveiled a complex plan of street closures, demolitions and expropriations — set to begin mid-May — for the construction of the new Gautrain link between Johannesburg and Pretoria.
“We are going to be spending R100-million a week for 54 months and to spend that we have to do pre-work like moving utilities and [establishing] road closures,” said project leader Jack van der Merwe.
Digging will start “within weeks” for the first preparations, and the first of the 1 056 affected property owners will receive their notices of the planned expropriations within days.
According to a briefing document, the area around Johannesburg’s Park station, Rosebank and Sandton will be the first affected.
Preparations for the 80km route — which includes Johannesburg International airport — include extensive road closures, site installations, utilities upgrades, demolition of buildings, taxi-rank relocations, alterations to intersections and power-line installations.
Bus stops will be removed, trees felled and roads widened in the massive project.
“People mustn’t see it as turning Johannesburg into a construction site … it must be seen as a site where we are going to create jobs … change attitudes towards public transport,” said Van der Merwe.
Some buildings will be demolished completely, some properties will have the tunnel running underneath them and other properties will be affected in minor ways.
Gauteng transport minister Ignatius Jacobs said most affected property owners have already been visited and areas required for construction were proclaimed in the Provincial Gazette of May 5 2006.
On the east-west line from Marlboro to Rhodesfield, notices of intention to proclaim or expropriate will be delivered from mid-May.
Notices for the north-south line from Marlboro towards Centurion will be delivered from the end of May.
Affected land owners have 21 days to submit comment to Jacobs, who has the power to approve the proclamation in the Provincial Gazette.
After proclamation, affected landowners have 60 days to provide information regarding compensation, which will be adjudicated according to market value. Where there is no agreement, disputes will be settled in court.
Asked for the compensation budget, Jacobs would only say: “If I tell you my budget, then everybody is going to shoot up their price. We have a good fund but at the same time we would like a win-win situation.”
“Reasonable” time will be allowed for relocation but they will also encourage early vacating of the affected properties.
However, referring to tenants’ rights, a publisher present at the briefing told Jacobs that he had been given a letter by his landlord to move his business “immediately” due to planned work in Smit Street in the city centre.
Preparations for the demolition of the nearby old Johannesburg College of Education building are expected to start in June.
Van der Merwe also confirmed that expropriation will not go ahead on AECI-owned land along the route until the company’s objection is settled.
To help members of the public plot their routes around the disruptions, a call centre and website should be operational within 10 days, the project team promised. — Sapa
More information is available on www.gautrain.co.za