Scholars protest safety threat as logistics park takes shape
A call for other schools to get active and take part in the awareness was urged by the SDCEA
SCHOOLS from Merebank and Wentworth held a placard demonstration on Wednesday, 13 September in support of the South Durban Community Environmental Alliance’s (SDCEA) fight against the development of the old Clairwood Racecourse into a logistics park.
Wentworth’s Durban East Primary grade 5 pupils wielded placards with messages of concern that their lives would be affected once the development is complete. Teacher, Irene Fynn said she fears for the pupils who have to travel the route to and from school. “This demonstration aims to bring awareness to what this development might cause, such as more truck accidents and pollution, and I encourage parents to get involved in educating their child about the dangers. I also call for other schools to get active and take part in the awareness that we and SDCEA are trying to create through these campaigns,” she said.
SDCEA co-ordinator, Desmond D’Sa said the environmental group’s court action scheduled for last Friday, 15 September was postponed until 11 December.
D’sa said they take exception to the loss of the last green lung in the area, pollution hazards, an increase of 2,000 heavy vehicles in the area, loss of recreational space and a decrease in the biodiversity currently present within the former racecourse. “A key issue is environmental injustice, which is of great concern, particularly when one considers the already compromised living conditions of residents of the community. The heightened threats posed to every school learner using the access road in the Lansdowne vicinity to get to schools in Merebank, Wentworth and Bluff are of concern. Clairwood racecourse, which was South Durban’s safety zone in the event of a disaster, has been destroyed. Consider that South Durban is still without an emergency evacuation plan, with no safety zone to go to in the event of a disaster,” added D’sa.
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Questioned about the community’s concerns about the road safety threat posed by additional vehicles on the road and the safety of local scholars, Nico Prinsloo, a development manager at the JSE-listed Fortress Income Fund which owns and is developing the site, said they have committed to invest R135-million to upgrade road infrastructure which will benefit the community and road users as well as tenants on completion of the project.
READ: Protestors list logistics park concerns to developers
He added that the new logistics park would be a catalyst for the clean-up and redevelopment of some of Durban’s oldest industrial areas. He believes this development can only benefit the community in terms of job creation and area development. “Recent announcements that the Durban dig out port has been deferred for at least seven years and generally poor economic growth nationally could be yet another reason for the people of Durban to feel discouraged. However, as economists recently revealed, the economy of Durban is outpacing the national economy. This is largely because of logistics activities surrounding the port. We believe that state-of-the-art facilities such as the Clairwood Logistics Park will support the growth of both this sector and the city as a whole,” he said.
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Clairwood Logistics Park is expected to create about 19,000 jobs during the four-year construction period, and thousands of permanent jobs on completion, as well as provide opportunities for skills and enterprise development.
