EDIAIS :Conference papers

Up until the time of writing this, there has been no legal requirement on developers in South Africa to conduct a social impact assessment in order to get approval for a proposed development or building project. A practice has developed during the last five years or so among some developers to incorporate a social impact assessment into the broader environmental impact study. This paper looks at the social impact assessment that was conducted with regard to the proposed Rapid Rail Link to be established between Johannesburg and Pretoria and also linking Sandton and Johannesburg National Airport. The project envisages an initial line of 80 kilometres with 10 stations at strategic places along the route.

A research strategy was initially designed to focus on areas affected by the reference route alignment between the three anchor stations, Pretoria Station, Johannesburg Park Station and Johannesburg International Airport (JIA), as proposed by Gautrans. As the public participation process unfolded, various alternative route alignments were identified resulting in the area of focus being modified in order to encompass all these alternatives.

The focus of this paper is on the challenges faced by the researchers when conducting an SIA with regard to a project of the magnitude of the Gautrain Rapid Rail Link Project. These challenges are considered in terms of the considerations with regard to the design of the project, the problems experienced when conducting research in such diverse communities and lastly the intricacies of incorporating the Public Participation Process into the data collection for the SIA. The latter is particularly considered in the light of the heated NIMBY (Not in my backyard) debate that developed among I&APs during the process of conducting the research.

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