Wild Coast N2 toll road gets go-ahead

minister of water and environmental affairs edna molewa has signalled the go-ahead for the controversial wild coast n2 toll road. molewa's spokesperson, mandla mathebula, confirmed that she had given the go-ahead on monday, a dicision that "greatly saddened" the wildlife and environmental society of south aftica (wessa). according to previous reports, the road will extend over roughly 560km between the n2 gonubie interchange and the n2 isipingo interchange south of durban. asked for a specific time-frame for construction, south african national roads agency spokesperson priya pllay said: "it's going to take a while. unfortunately, we have not yet been notified about the whole development process, but my understanding is the development document will have to be released for public comment and also go through tender processes." wessa spokesperson chris galliers said not only would the development be extremely expensive - costs were estimated at r6.4 billion in 2007 - but it would have a signigicant impact on sensitive environmental areas near the coastline. "there are lots of plants in that area that are rare in most parts of the world," he said, adding the secondary negative impact on the wildlife would be brought about by the development of businesses that would come along with the road. "wessa is not happy because too many things can go wrong there," he said. galliers said molewa rejected all 49 appeals against the development of the n2 toll road by different organisations. he said the minister's decision "may very well take the 'wild' out of the wild coast". "it is another decision that speaks to short-term gains," he said. eastern cape mec for economic affairs mcebisi jones welcomed the go-ahead. he said the development was a key strategic project in the wild coast's economic development. "we do acknowledge there might be further challenges in the development of this programme as it is being initiated in one of the critical and most sensitive environmental areas - but the provincial government will intervene when necessary," he said.