The Gauteng provincial government has welcomed the ruling of the Pretoria High Court on Wednesday in favour of the Gautrain rapid-rail link. Construction is due to begin in September.
The urgent application by the Muckleneuk/Lukasrand Property Owners and Residents Association (MLPORA) against the 2004 amended record of decision (ROD) made by the Gauteng department of agriculture, conservation and environment (GDACE) was dismissed with cost to the applicant.
”This landmark decision for the Gautrain carries a clear message that the environmental impact assessment (EIA) on the Gautrain is valid and robust. This process considered all interested and affected parties in the context of looking at the broader environmental impact — as does the environmental management plan (EMP) for the construction and operation of Gautrain,” says member of the executive committee (MEC) Ignatius Jacobs from Gauteng Public Transport, Roads and Works.
In their urgent application MLPORA asked the court to rule against the 2004 record of decision as neither the MEC for GDACE nor its head of that department (HOD) had the legal authority to grant authorisation. In relation to this the court ruled there was no substance in the applicants’ contention that the MEC and the HOD were not empowered to authorise the activities.
The court noted that GDACE accomodated MLPORA more than once with extensions on time limits and postponement of meetings. ”GDACE insisted on a myriad of studies and the MEC obtained a further report before dealing with the appeal. All the objective facts, as opposed to a paranoid apprehension of bias based on an unhappiness that its contentions did not prevail, indicate that instead of abdicating its duties GDACE and the decision-makers were doubly careful not to overlook anything of importance in favour of the applicants.”
This court ruling confirmed the authority of the MEC and HOD of GDACE to have made informed decisions on the Gautrain. In bringing out the 2004 record of decision, GDACE was satisfied that its evaluation caused the best-choice route to be authorised, taking all economic, social and environmental factors into account.
The ROD itself was clear that it did not authorise construction until the mitigative measures were finalised and that failure to comply with the conditions imposed may lead to withdrawal of the authorisation. These mitigative measures are addressed in the environmental management plan for the construction and operation of the Gautrain project.
The project received a record of decision on the draft final environmental management plan on August 18 2006 which authorise the construction of the entire route with the exception of the northern variants. – I-Net Bridge