Battle for control of PE quayside begins

A battle for control of the quayside in the Port Elizabeth harbour will be starting in earnest as the process of decommissioning the pre-war tank farm gets under way. WSP Environment and Energy has given notice that it is applying for environmental authorisation for the decommissioning of the facility, and for a waste management licence. This will open up the tank farm for redevelopment. In the one corner of the redevelopment battle is Transnet. CEO Brian Molefe says the parastatal wants to use the Dom Pedro quayside for a modern car terminal. In the other corner is the Nelson Mandela Bay municipality, business chamber and local public sentiment. They want a Port Elizabeth version of the Cape Town waterfront. The Nelson Mandela Bay Business Chamber issued a statement shortly after the notice appeared, proclaiming “Yet another milestone has been reached on the road to achieving a waterfront development for Nelson Mandela Bay”. Molefe told a meeting – at which senior Chamber executives were present – that he could buy hamburgers anywhere, and that public-funded infrastructure should not be used for purposes that support fewer jobs and that hamper future port expansion. The current facility in the harbour consists of 52 above-ground storage tanks for petrol, diesel fuels and other oil products, and is operated by four oil companies. It will be moved to Ngqura. Consortium Oiltanking Grindrod Calulo has been granted a licence by the National Energy Regulator of South Africa (Nersa) for the construction of a petroleum storage and loading facility at Ngqura.