FAQ

How are SMMEs and communities benefitting from the project?
The N2WC project will improve the quality of life and open opportunities for communities that live along the N2 Wild Coast road. The employment of locals will also play a key role in opening up these opportunities.

The SANRAL community development project has a huge SMME development focus, with direct and indirect jobs being created during construction to benefit the local communities.

It is estimated that income for the local subcontractors and suppliers will increase by over R1.5bn and construction work will create 8 000 fulltime equivalent direct jobs, and between 16 000 and 18 000 indirect jobs between 2018 and 2023. Direct jobs alone will see approximately R450m in wages being earned by local labour.

SANRAL will implement a number of community development and legacy projects ringfenced for local Emerging Micro Enterprises and ensure local persons employed will receive meaningful training and development as part of the overall Wild Coast Project.

Various community development initiatives took place between 2017/18.

What is the update with regards to tolling the N2WCR?
An Intent to Toll on two sections of the greenfields section of the N2WCR (Ndwalane to Ntafufu and Lusikisiki to Mzamba) is to be gazetted during 2019 and a Public Participation process will be followed. As part of this process, the location of the only two proposed new toll plazas on the greenfields section, as well as the proposed toll tariffs, will go through a full public participation process. Although not a legal necessity, all tolled sections will have alternate non-toll routes available.

Is it true that there are Amadiba communities opposing the N2WCR construction?

No – this is a prime example of false news repeatedly put forward by opponents of the Xolobeni Mining project that has been adopted and regurgitated by some

reporters and bloggers who failed to verify their facts.

In fact, an independent survey of residents along the entire route between Ndwalane in Port St Johns and Mzamba in Mbizana found over 98% of local residents in support of the project. The Amadiba Traditional Authority as well as all five local councillors that represent all the approximately 75 villages in the Amadiba Traditional Authority area are all unanimously in support of the project. Further, even in the Mdatya and Sigidi villages, the only 2 villages in the Amadiba area where there is major local opposition to the Xolobeni mine, the majority of both villages refused to give a mandate to the Amadiba Cisis Committee’s lawyers to continue opposing the N2 Wild Coast Road.

Is it true that the N2WCR was routed close to the coast to benefit the Xolobeni mine?
No. This can be shown in several ways:

1. Logically the N2 Wild Coast Road only comes closer to the coast as it approaches Port Edward as it must meet up with the existing bridge over the Mtamvuna River which is less than a kilometre inland from the sea.
2. The route that the N2WCR follows was found through a comprehensive environmental Impact study, including numerous independent specialist studies, to be the best alternative on a combination of environmental, social and economic factors. Had a better alternative been available, the EIA would have ensured that route was followed.
3. The route that was approved was in fact almost exactly the same route that was first identified 40 years ago, long before the minerals were found in the Xolobeni sand dunes in the 90’s.
4. There is no direct dependency between the mine and the N2WCR. The mine is economically feasible even without the N2WCR. Similarly, the impact of the traffic that may be generated by a mine will be insignificant in the overall traffic pattern and any potential tolling for the N2WCR.