Roughly a year later the proposed Franschhoek cable car, or “skytram” as it will be called, is no closer to being constructed as Doug Jeffery Evironmental Consultants, employed by the Franschhoek Cableway Company to handle the environmental impact assesement, is still sifting through the public’s comment receiveid during the public participation process.
This process closed during March 2024.
The Skytram is proposed to start at Haute Cabrière and follow a 1 km cable line up the valley to the Mount Rochelle Nature Reserve.
Alwyn Laubscher of Alwyn Laubscher & Asssociates who is the project manager of the cable car project, told Paarl Post in February 2024 that construction is planned to start at the beginning of 2025 with the first visitors welcomed at the end of 2026.
These dates, will, however, not realise as the process is currently at pause, according to Adél Groenewald, an environmental consultant at Doug Jefferey Environmental Consultants.
“At this stage, we are not in a position to provide any comment, as the specialists are still in the process of evaluating all comments received as part of the pre-application public participation process. The way forward will be communicated once their evaluation has been completed,” Groenewald said.
Barry Phillips, co-chairperson of the Franschhoek Heritage and Ratepayer’s Association (FHRA), who is also heavily involved in the opposition of the proposed cable car, told Paarl Post in his personal capacity that he believes this “pause” is due to to vast volume of public input Doug Jefferey received.
“I am only speculating, but I think [Doug Jeffery] is surprised by the extent and volume of the [public’s] response and how to proceed from here,” Phillips said.
David Venter
According to a Facebook post on the ‘Stop the Franschhoek Skytram’ Facebook page, Professor David Venter from the Vlerick Business School in Belgium, focussing on negotiation, conflict resolution and leadership was appointed by the he Franschhoek Cableway Company for three months to engage with both supporters and opposers of the project.
His visit was met with scepticism from opponents of the Skytram, such as Phillips, which criticised Veter in an open letter to Die Burger in November 2024.
According to the Facebook post, a recent WhatsApp message from Venter to Skytram opposers reads: “the entire cableway process has since been suspended pending the outcome of a community involvement process to determine whether the process should go forward as initially presented or whether consensus is reached on a community agreed way forward.”
Groenewald did not disclose information regarding Venter’s statement.
Furthermore, it remains unclear at which stage the Franschhoek cable car project currently stands, or when the outcomes of the public participation process will be made available to the public.
Concerns
Besides the environmental risks the skytram can hold, such as loss to fauna and flora, some of the main critiques from opposers include the suitability of Franschhoek’s power grid for this project, the lack of socio-economic benefits to an already marginalised Groendal community as only 37 post-construction jobs will be created and the fact that the Groendal community was not sufficiently addressed during public participation meetings.
According to Phillips one public participation meeting, was, however sceduled by Doug Jeffery Environmental Consultants at the Lord’s Acre Christian Community Centre in Groendal during 2024.
An additional group of Franschhoek residents opposing the project also delivered a presentation to the Groendal community in July 2024 on the environmental impact assessment (EIA), comprising more than 2 000 pages, prepared by Doug Jeffery Environmental Consultants, as well as the land-use application compiled by David Hellig & Abrahamse (DHAA).
This article has been updated since its original publication on 5 May to clarify that Barry Phillips, co-chairperson of the Franschhoek Heritage and Ratepayers Association (FHRA), was speaking in a personal capacity and not on behalf of the FHRA. The Paarl Post apologises for any inconvenience caused.
