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 Most of these editorials are offered to the press for publication in the Hout Bay and local press. The submitted articles are often shortened or edited by the publishers, which is their prerogative, however, articles here appear in full.

D.C.

Chapmans Peak - Scourge or Opportunity?

The closure of Chapman's Peak in December 1999 came as a shock to the Peninsula's tourism operators but not to the long time residents of Hout Bay and Noordhoek , who have seen road closures there intermittently for many years. This time however, the story is very different and the anticipated length of the closure is likely to outstrip the rest by years rather than weeks.
Chapman's Peak is a Provincial Road which is contractually maintained by the South Peninsula MLC acting as their agent. The Drive was created as a tourism attraction way back in 1919 and even then the engineers of the day were apprehensive; the opportunity for a spectacular route was seen by the authorities of the day as desirable as opposed to a safer but less spectacular route over the nek between Chapmans Peak and Noordhoek Peak.

The SPM have very limited resources when it comes to road maintenance and when it comes to a geo-technical nightmare like Chapmans Peak they are clearly out of their depth. The SPM's plan to date has been a Ready - Fire - Aim approach and having run out of ammunition the community seems to be left with a hopeless problem with a feeling of helplessness.

The above picture fails to convey the extent of the work needed to restore Chapmans Peak Drive back to its rightful place as one of the Cape's top attractions - What can we do to solve the log-jam?
Recent events have confirmed our suspicion that Metropolitan Local Councils in their present form are not capable of handling such major issues, neither are they capable of controlling major developers. It is naive to think that a Municipality in Plumstead is going to solve our problems and probably less likely that a Unicity department in Tygerberg will be any better. The answer therefore is for the community itself to play a greater part in shaping its destiny.

What can we do? Hout Bay's Business and Tourism Association have been proactive in raising awareness as well as funds and their efforts are very commendable. However, it is unrealistic to expect a community to raise substantial funds for the restoration of what is a national asset. The funding for the technical solution is largely out of our hands, but to avoid another Ready - Fire - Aim solution, we can make a considerable contribution towards the planning of a holistic solution in the meantime. Chapmans Peak's major problems are actually restricted to a few dangerous stretches, the problems are of a very technical nature and will have to be solved by the best engineers that can be found. However, the opportunity arises for us to give input elsewhere in an holistic solution and we should be directing our energy to those areas so that as soon a s funding is in place, the community is poised to support that plan rather than create protracted and expensive delays with a Lose - Lose instead of a Win - Win solution.

What could be the elements of a holistic solution? It is likely that the final solution will be in the form of a toll road with a private - public partnership plan to restore and maintain the road into the future. Similar partnerships have been created previously and can work well, two good examples being the Huguenot Tunnel and the Cape Point Visitor facilities which include the funicular railway. The latter, in particular, has been tastefully implemented but not without some acrimonious but probably constructive debate by green interests who probably as a result of their efforts have safeguarded a heritage site from excessive development.

Hout Bay's concerned organisations include some formidable minds and resources which could paint the outline of a magnificent solution. One of the factors that should be considered in a holistic solution is the fact that Chapmans Peak Drive actually starts at the Princess/Main Rd intersection and a traffic circle should be on the table at the outset. The next point is that as the road is in the New National Park in its entirety, and the CPNP should publicly recognise it as part of the park and incorporate a gateway as was envisaged by the Park during its strategic planning phase. Thought must be given to the incorporation of a toll plaza into the gate-way which would allow a permanent presence and thus allow the possibility of the restoration of East fort as a tourism attraction. Given such a critical mass, it would then be possible to develop further trails which could incorporate overnight facilities in the area. Chapmans peak itself could become a destination rather than just a route and great eco-tourism opportunities exist with big spin offs for Hout Bay in particular.

The prospects are very exciting. Perhaps we should forget the doom and gloom for the time being and put what energy we can into the plan whilst we have a breathing space. It could be the greatest opportunity we have ever had!

This sad view shows the extent of the work still necessary following the extensive and controversial "rock barring"  only 8% having yet been completed. Could it have been done differently? The road has almost been completely obliterated at this point. Only the wall (lower left of centre) indicates that there is a road there at all, at this point.

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