Question NW1299 to the Minister of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs
20 July 2017 - NW1299
Waters, Mr M to ask the Minister of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs
With regard to the proposed housing development on portion 296 of the Zuurfontein farm 33 I.R. situated within the Ekurhuleni Metropolitan Municipality’s boundary: (a) What was the reason that the specified Municipality only gave residents 13 days to lay objections instead of the standard 28 days’ notice (details furnished), (b) Why is the deadline for the submission of objections given on the specified notice incorrectly announced as Wednesday, 6 May 2017, when the date does not exist? (c) What is the actual closing date for the submission of objections? and (d) Why is the portion of land in the notice incorrectly stipulated as portion 153 and not portion 296?
Reply:
The information was provided by the Gauteng Provincial Department of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs:
(a) The site notices indicate 30 days, the opportunity to participate in the EIA was announced in April 2017 in the following ways:
- Newspaper advertisement placed in the Kempton Express on Thursday, 13 April 2017 inviting Interested and affected parties to register with, and submit their comments to the service provider (refer to the attached proof of newspaper advert).
- Site notices informing the surrounding communities and immediately adjacent landowners of the proposed development. The service provider placed site notices within the boundaries of the study area on 19 April 2017. Refer to the attached site notices.
(b) This is an error, as the latest date was supposed to be the 10 May 2017. This will be corrected and communicated in the public meetings.
(c) The Draft Basic Assessment Report (DBAR) would be made available for public review as stipulated in the EIA Regulations 2014 and the report will be out for public review and comment for a 30-day commenting period. The commenting period is envisaged to commence on Monday, 23 May 2017 to Friday, 23 June 2017 (end of business day). Registered interested and affected parties would be sent written notification on the availability of the DBAR through faxes, emails depending on the mode of correspondence they wished to be notified.
(d) This is an error and it will be corrected on the Draft Basic Assessment Report and further adverts.