Plans for a new City dump in Beaconvale, Parow, have stalled because of fears it faces a flood risk.
The City’s catchment and stormwater management branch will be doing a study over the next month or two to gauge the risk, according to Sub-council 4 chairman Chris Jordaan.
“Additional detailed flood-line modelling and analyses of the Elsieskraal canal is required for the Beaconvale drop-off and adjacent area, to determine the severity of the flood risk to the development,” said Mr Jordaan.
The Beaconvale site was meant to replace the Tygerdal dump, which has long been a thorn in the side of residents who complained about noise, dust and trucks in the neighbourhood.
The dump is used for garden refuse and recyclables but not kitchen waste.
Residents near it have been vocal about wanting it shut, and in 2014 the City of Cape Town promised to do just that and set plans in motion for the Beaconvale site, which was initially going to open in November 2015 (“Dump saga draws to a close,” Tygertalk, May 21, 2014).
However, in December 2015, the City said the site’s closure would be delayed because of an appeal by the Goodwood Ratepayers’ Association (“Closure of waste drop-off site delayed,” Northern News, December 2, 2015).
So the completion date for the
R30 million Beaconvale dump, which is being developed by the City’s solid waste management department on vacant council land, was to set back to July 2016. Now the flood-risk issue has caused more delays.
Mr Jordaan said the Tygerdal dump would stay open “until the new Beaconvale facility is operational”.
Meanwhile, Stuart Diamond, the acting mayoral committee member for informal settlements, water and waste services and energy, told Northern News, the flood line issue had first surfaced in January 2015. If it sank the Beaconvale plan, the City would have to go back to the drawing board, he said.
“If the facility in the current position is prohibited, then an alternative location would have to be found and licensing obtained. A definitive timeline is difficult to state as there are many variables,” said Mr Diamond.
Suzette Little, the Mayoral committee member for area north, said the Tygerdal facility would only be decommissioned once an alternative dump had opened.
“The timeline is to be determined,” she said.