River mouth plans
THE Kouga Municipality has been given a conditional nod by the Department of Environmental Affairs to open up the mouth of the Seekoei River between Aston Bay and Paradise Beach.
The consent is a once-off and is valid for a one- year period, but has many conditions attached, before the breaching can take place.
The department also cautions that this is a temporary solution and that a permanent one must be found. Any further breaching after this once-off will require a new authorization in terms of the EIA regulations.
Some of the specific conditions include having four 1,4 metre poles at separate places upstream and downstream of the causeway. The mouth may only be breached by artificial means if the water level in the estuary reaches the 1,4 metre level or if the level rises above the causeway. Regular monitoring must also be done. The KM must also put measures in place to prevent heavy vehicles travelling across the causeway. A stop-go system during strong winds to enforce one-way traffic should be put in place.
A management plan has to be drawn up and presented to the department.
The causeway has raised the hackles of residents for many years as it has been seen that the KM has mostly ignored their plight to reaching a permanent solution.
The Paradise Beach Community Association has taken note of the permission with great optimism and hopes the KM will comply with all the requirements and they will be following the developments with interest.
Acting director of technical services from the municipality, Eddie Oosthuysen says planting the four poles will be done soon, while the stop-go was not a problem. However the council has to approve the ROD in principle before they can continue.
CINDY LIEBENBERG
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this tune is getting monotonous
Submitted by deoni (not verified) on Mon, 01/02/2010 - 19:58.
If the KM wasn't so slack and could put some thoughts into their actions they could have avoided extra costs tremendously!! The bridge has been a problem since day 1, year after year the bridge was either distroyed or damaged by floods and rain, but instead of raising the causeway they continue building the same structure and problem attracting bridge... not only would it be beneficial to build a PROPPER bridge but it would look great!! To narrow it down even more......the original flow of the river should NEVER have been changed in the first place, changing the course of nature is bound to cause destruction later, because of human error and carelessness towards our environment this is the unfortunate fruits it will bear in the future... it's a pity the monkeys in charge don't learn from their mistakes!!!!
As a matter of interest, I'm
Submitted by MyKouga on Thu, 04/02/2010 - 13:03.
As a matter of interest, I'm not sure how many people realize that the bridge does not belong to the municipality. It was erected by the residents of Paradise many years ago, but somewhere along the way it became the municipality's responsibility and I suppose as long as they continue doing this they must keep on taking the flack
