Hout and
About
News from
Residents’Association of Hout
Bay
PO Box 27031, Hout Bay,
7872
rahb@houtbay.org.za
www.houtbay.org.za
January 2006
ELECTRICITY
SERVICES - CABLE PROJECT: CONSTANTIA TO HOUT BAY
We have been informed that the
City’s Electricity Services are planning to install 66kV electrical cables
between the main substations in Wynberg/Constantia and Hout Bay.
RAHB would like to ensure that the Council use either the pipeline servitude
from Constantia Nek to Hout
Bay (which is wide enough
to accommodate this new service) or the Road Reserve of the planned High Level Road so
as to avoid the unnecessary disruption, inconvenience and compromise of the
existing Main Road
with all its trees and vegetation. In fact we believe some sort of
environmental assessment would be useful.
Mr Frederick Burger (telephone
918-7170) is asking all interested and affected parties to contact him so that
he may notify them of this upcoming project.
ENERGY
SAVING SHOULD TOP AGENDA – fresh approach would ease the strain on electricity
supplies
Albert Schuitmaker’s
article in the Cape
Times Wed 18 Jan 06 is
quoted below. Mr Schuitmaker is the Director of the Cape Town Chamber of Commerce. He says
“Until recently South Africa
enjoyed the security of surplus electricity-generating capacity and power was
cheap because of our abundant supplies of coal and the fact that most of the
power stations were old and fully depreciated.
The Municipalities that bought
power from ESCOM and resold it to commerce, industry and residents came to
depend on this revenue, and the more electricity consumed, the more profit they
made. In Cape Town’s
case, roughly half of the municipal income over the years has come from electricity
sales, and the monopoly produced what the city called a “surplus” of about 12%.
It was like a tax on power. There was no way that they would endorse any
campaign that would reduce sales and income.
Now all this has changed and South Africa no
longer has enough generating capacity to meet the needs of a growing economy.
Obviously, we need more generating capacity, but, perhaps even more important,
is that we have to stop wasting electricity. In particular, we have to cut down
on the use of electricity for cooking and heating.
Since the municipalities are
unlikely to do anything that will have a negative
impact on their revenue stream, it is necessary to go over their heads and ask
the government to take the necessary action in the national interest. The kind
of steps that can be taken are as simple as getting the SA Bureau of Standards
(SABS) to come up with new and better specifications for the insulation of hot
water geysers and the thermal blankets used
to prevent heat loss on older models.
And what about making the
installation of solar water heaters a tax-deductible expense to encourage their
use? Solar panels which generate electricity are still expensive, but they have
important advantages which would make it worthwhile to encourage their use.
Most people do not realise that, when solar panels generate more power than is
actually being used, they can feed the surplus current back into the
electricity distribution network. As the flow of current reverses, the
electricity meter also goes into reverse and builds up a credit for the
consumer. Now imagine what a hundred thousand of those panels could do. It
should certainly be worth a few incentives to encourage their use.
An important feature of these
suggestions is that they will generate additional economic activity and could
spawn hundreds of small businesses devoted to the manufacture and installation
of solar water heaters and panels. Thousands of new jobs could be created”.
RAHB has consistently lobbied for
new developments in Hout
Bay to include water and
power saving devices in their plans to the Municipality.
CHAPMANS PEAK DRIVE
“TOLL ROAD INJUSTICE”
|
Glenn Ashton's article in the Cape Times
of 27 Dec 05,
"Cloak and dagger game played with Chappies toll road", hints at
the travesty of justice displayed by the authorities. The public and taxpayers are left ignorant
and just foot the bill, over and over again.
The residents living in the South Peninsula have been cut off by this
toll road, unless they are willing to pay the tolls, and now to add
insult to injury, large Toll Plazas and a two-lane highway is proposed on
both sides of Chapman's Peak Drive. In
January, the Minister of Environment & Tourism, van Schalkwyk, will be
asked to sign the papers put before him, with information of traffic figures,
believed to be flawed, authorising these large Toll Plazas on Chapman's Peak Drive. A meeting with the Minister by the Greater
Cape Town Civic Alliance to discuss the issues has been refused. The door for further public participation
has been closed. The whole sorry saga
of Chapman’s Peak Drive
leaves much to be desired and little redress, save to pay and pay and
pay. Even the new CPD is not as
popular as it once was before the mountain was scarred. The CPD
has been despoiled for all time. Here's an extract from the November 2005
issue of Wine Magazine, which is sold at all Airports and has an overseas
readership as well. Page 50, the article entitled "ESCAPE
ROUTES" by Joanne Simon is quoted hereunder:
"CHAPMAN'S
PEAK used to be my favourite drive in the world - not even the
much-hyped 17-Mile Drive
meandering past Pebble Beach Golf Links in Monterey Bay, California,
came close. But now that occasional rockfalls have been replaced by a
permanent concrete scar on the mountainside, my vote goes to Clarence Drive,
the steep coastal stretch carved from rocky sea cliffs, through the Kogelberg
Biosphere Reserve which encompasses the entire coastal area between Gordon's
Bay and Betty's Bay."
|
MEN ON THE
SIDE OF THE ROAD
We have received a letter from a
resident in Helgarde Estate concerning issues associated with the increasing
number of persons seeking work and sitting at the traffic lights at the
intersection of Victoria Avenue,
Victoria Road and Helgarde Avenue. While we have sympathy with these men trying
to get work, we understand that there is an increase in the level of antisocial
behaviour such as defecating and urinating in the riverine area along the south
side of Helgarde Ave
as well as in the reeds in front of the church on the corner. Apparently there is also an increasing
problem of litter as glass bottles, plastic, polystyrene containers,
chip packets and plastic are dropped. We
ask the authorities to place rubbish bins on the side of the roads and also
respectfully request the well-meaning public to reconsider supplying food to
the men here (as it is thought to exacerbate the problem). Rather take a little more trouble and make
the food donations through more appropriate channels.
Please note that an employment
labour office exists in Barry Road Penzance, next to Imizamo Yethu. For
more information contact SIJONGA PHAMBILE at 790-2544. We encourage prospective employers to support
this labour employment initiative rather than picking labour off the streets
and at busy intersections.
UPDATE ON
PLANNING ISSUES
Erf 4851 Earle Street – The application
for rezoning was considered on Wed18 Jan 06 by the SPELUM, Spatial Land Use
Management Committee, in the Council Chambers. A decision was deferred subject
to a site visit.
Applications to Council: Note that
comments and objections may be sent (before the specified deadline in each
case) to: The Municipal Manager, Urban and Environmental Services, South
Peninsula Admin, City of Cape Town,
Private Bag X5, Plumstead 7801 or faxed to 021 710-8283 (tel.–8202); attention
Mr. M. Barnes. The general telephone
number for the SPA is 710-8000.
Len
Swimmer
Chairperson, Residents’ Assoc of Hout Bay
Tel: 790-0268, Email: lens@telkomsa.net
MEMBERSHIP
(R50
per couple, R30 per individual)
- Jan 2006