Residents affected by proposed Gautrain route give voice at public meeting
Residents still do not know whether their homes will be expropriated with compensation following the new Gautrain route extension.
Residents were left with more answers than questions at a meeting about the new proposed route extension of the Gautrain, especially relating to whether their homes will be expropriated.
The Gautrain Management Agency (GMA) held the meeting with the Greater Sharonlea Residents Forum at Blandford Manor, North Riding, on July 13.
There, the agency’s chief operating officer Tshepo Kgobe told residents that July and August would be spent engaging with the community about the proposed extension of the Gautrain to Randburg and Roodepoort. “We are responding to every single submission,” he said, urging residents to write in.
The proposed route especially goes through Ward 101 (Sharonlea, North Riding and Olivedale) but also homes in Bryanston, Ferndale, Randburg CBD and Bordeaux, among other Randburg suburbs.
This route extension will be above ground mostly (apart from the underground area of network at Randburg CBD) and should the proposal become reality, residential homes, schools and roads will be affected.
Residents were told at the meeting that their homes may be expropriated with compensation, but they argued they do not want this.
“We do not want expropriation, we do not want compensation, we just want our community,” said Greater Sharonlea Residents Forum chairperson JC Wouters.
“We are very close as a community but, over and above that, we have also spent millions on our security infrastructure. That’s because we have 90+ cameras that are monitored 24/7 with dedicated security vehicles responding to any alerts that the camera monitoring team picks up. A couple of years ago we were given the reputation of the safest suburb in Gauteng.”
This investment by thousands of residents is what they are most upset about, he said. “We take a sense of pride in our community and that is why we have been on top of this since July/August last year.”
During the meeting, the GMA said it would maintain contact with residents and work with them going forward, though details of how it would do so were not clear by the end of the night.
It was also unclear if expropriation with compensation was already guaranteed, or if this would be confirmed after the public engagement process.
The determination of the route is the first phase of the process of defining the railway reserve for the proposed Gauteng Rapid Rail Integrated Network GRRIN extensions, and forms part of the preparatory work required to enable a project of this nature to be implemented.
As such, the commencement of the implementation of the project is not envisioned to occur before 2026.
The route
The new proposed route starts at the proposed Little Falls Station in a north-easterly direction towards Zandspruit and passed the west of Jackal Creek Golf Estate; before changing to a south-easterly direction toward Cosmo City and a proposed Cosmo City Station (which will actually be in Northgate and between 3km and 13km by road from Cosmo City at its nearest and furthest points).
From there, the route will continue south-easterly toward the proposed Randburg Station, passing through North Riding, Olivedale, Bryanston and Ferndale.
Then it will go through Randburg, Bordeaux and Hurlingham and turn in Sandhurst toward the existing Sandton Station, where an upgraded station is proposed.
From there the route goes north-east through several suburbs to join the existing Marlboro Station, where, again, an upgrade is proposed to accommodate the new alignment.
To write to the GMA or find out more
Electronic copies of the route determination report are available at www.gma.gautrain.co.za or at the office of the same department in Commissioner Street, Joburg CBD.
Interested and affected parties may also request reasons for the decision of the route, within 30 days of the publication of the notice.
They can submit this request through email to phase1@gautengrapidrail.co.za for attention: The Project Manager: GRRIN Extensions Project, with the subject GRRINE/RD01.
Until then, community members can contact the GMA through the website [https://www.gautrainalerts.co.za] or phoning 080 0428 87246.
More information about this new route network can be found here https://www.mygautrain.co.za/news/frequently-asked-questions-about-phase-one-of-the-grrin-extensions-project
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