Despite tourism industry and conservationists’ misgivings about the proposed Drakensberg Cable Car project in KZN, the construction is going ahead.
Over the past weekend, KZN MEC for Economic Development, Tourism, and Environmental Affairs, Siboniso Duma, conducted an oversight visit to monitor the progress to assess the proposed location for the cableway which restarted in May.
Duma said the project would boost tourism in KZN as well as neighbouring country, Lesotho and the Free State province.
"The area attracts both international and domestic leisure tourists, who mostly come for hiking and adventure. The plan is for the cableway to be located in a part of the Drakensberg with minimal tourism infrastructure and accommodation. This will unleash the tourism potential of this area without impacting existing attractions.
“The additional volume of tourists the cableway is expected to attract presents massive opportunities for cross-border initiatives to enhance the tourism product offering and, beyond tourism, look at other investment opportunities," said Duma.
This KZN Economic Development, Tourism and Environmental Affairs Department project, implemented by a committee led by Trade and Investment KwaZulu-Natal, in collaboration with Tourism KZN, Ezemvelo KZN Wildlife, the Thukela District Municipality, and the traditional council in the area, is part of the KwaZulu-Natal Tourism Master Plan.
The project is being portrayed as an employment bonanza for the area. Duma said the cableway would have great economic impact and create a “considerable” number of jobs. 151 people should be placed in permanent and sustainable formal jobs.
“The seven ancillary projects attached to the anchor project will generate hundreds more jobs and business opportunities will extend to all sectors of the economy,” said Duma.
Trade&Investment KZN said the feasibility plan had already been developed and there had been interest from an investor, however some studies were still needed and the project still needed to be packaged for investment.
The tourism industry has expressed concern over the environmental impact and the state of the access roads, amongst others. Initially conceived in 2012, the project has been on hold for several years, but the provincial government has officially re-started it.
Several objections and motivations over the years since 2012 may be seen on the website:
Some objections are:
- the economic viability is not certain,
- the status of the Maloti-Drakensberg World Heritage site could be threatened,
- it is not desired by the local community and the amaZizi leadership,
- it will be environmentally harmful,
- there are other, better sites for the project.
Travel News’ sister inbound tourism publication,Tourism Update, would like to hear industry’s perspective on this. Please e-mail christiaans@nowmedia.co.za or weigh in on our comments section.
