Gautrain work 'R100m a week'

johannesburg - the gauteng rapid rail team unveiled a complex plan of street closures, demolitions and expropriations on thursday - set to begin in mid-may - for the construction of the new link between johannesburg and pretoria.

"we are going to be spending r100m 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 would start "within weeks" for the first preparations.

the first of the 1 056 affected property owners would receive their notices of the planned expropriations within days.

according to a briefing document, the area around johannesburg's park station, rosebank and sandton would be the first affected.

roads being widened

preparations for the 80km route - which includes johannesburg international airport - include extensive road closures, site installations, infrastructure upgrades, demolition of buildings, taxi-rank relocation, alterations to intersections and power line installations.

bus stops will be removed, trees felled and roads widened in the massive project.

van der merwe said: "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."

some buildings would be demolished completely, some properties would have the tunnel running underneath them, and other properties would be affected in minor ways.

expropriation notices being delivered

gauteng transport mec ignatius jacobs said most affected property owners had 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 would be delivered from mid-may.

notices for the north-south line from marlboro towards centurion would be delivered from the end of may.

affected land owners had 21 days to submit comment to jacobs, who had the power to approve the proclamation in the provincial gazette.

after proclamation, affected landowners had 60 days to provide information regarding compensation, which would be adjudicated according to market value.

where there is no agreement, disputes would be settled in court.

asked for the compensation budget he would say only: "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 would be allowed for relocation, but they would also encourage early vacating of the affected properties.

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.

awaiting ruling on aeci objection

preparations for the demolition of the nearby old johannesburg college of education building was expected to start in june.

van der merwe also confirmed that expropriation would not go ahead on aeci-owned land along the route until the company's objection was settled.

to help the public plot their routes around the disruptions, a call centre and website should be operational within 10 days, said the project team.

more information is available on their