RESIDENTS have warned they will take legal action if the proposed Esselen Park housing development continues.
According to the chairman of the Concerned Birchleigh/Birchleigh North Residents, Dr Stefan Hough, the association will approach the court to stop the development.
Following a public meeting in Birchleigh North on March 15, where Nemai Consulting met with residents to discuss the concerns raised by them (residents) during the scoping and EIA study phases, the community feels the development should not continue.
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“From the information Nemai gave us during the public meeting on March 15, we as residents have concluded that the metro is not ready to take on such a project and is incapable of doing it,” Hough said.
Firstly, the residents said, the metro failed to take certain factors into consideration, such as sufficient electricity to power the new township, roads, water and sanitation infrastructure.
“Secondly, residents occupying the area next to the identified space cannot accept the detrimental impacts of the proposed housing project. We hereby reject the whole EIA process and document (draft EIA report),” Hough added.
Hough, on behalf of the residents, continued that should the proposed development continue, it would end up becoming another RDP disaster.
“The metro is clearly not equipped to take over as township developers and should leave that to experienced institutions, otherwise another RDP disaster like the one in Esselen Park will be duplicated.
“We therefore will have to approach the courts and request for an interdict to stop Nemai and the metro with planning the Esselen Park/Birchleigh North Ext 4 development.”
Nemai was hired by Ekurhuleni Metro to do an environmental impact assessment (EIA) regarding the impact the houses will have on the environment should the project be given the go-ahead.
The area identified for development is the 172ha portion of the Witfontein farm area near Esselen Park. The area is earmarked for middle-income housing in the current spatial development plan.
