Getting tired of expressing my view points on issue regarding the town, tree's a dying, grass a graying..... 60 years of infrastructure development not being appreciated.... but felt I had to express and opinion on the attached notices...
In order to develop Oranjemund in the future, a new quarry needs to be found to "mine" gravel for construction purposes...
If you look at the attached figures 2 and 3, you will see the first site, is situated on the old dumps to the South of the town.....
the 2nd being in the desert to the East of the Town.....
As a longtime resident, not wanting to stand in the path of development, I would just like to express my humble opinion on the matter...
The site to the South of the Town was a very large dump site from the mid 40's until the mid 80's..... the site was then "cleaned" up .... yes, a lot of scrap of value was removed...... but a lot of "worthless" scrap was simply bulldozed under the ground, inclusive of asbestos sheeting an fibreglass, I know this as a fact, as I played there in the 70's..... secondly the dump was big and stretched from the western flank of the Gun Club, all the way to the Town Garage in the west and down to the edges of the pan...... there is still a ton if stuff buried under the ground....
The prevailing wind in Oranjemund blows over this area, reopening the ground will be a health hazard.....
A little know fact, that beautiful pan just south of the town, is actually partially fed from runoff water from the town and a number of folk living here in the 60's mentioned that there is water that flows under the town from the dunes to the Northeast , through the dumps and into the pan..... So in conclusion..... I do not think this a wise choice....
The second spot appears to be to the East of the town, bordering on the township.... Now as far as I can understand, the local council are hoping to use the town's location as a tourism hub, and to this affect, I cannot understand why you would want to place a quarry spewing up dust with trucks running back and forth making a hole in a pristine part of the desert with those lovely dunes set in the background..... a tourist arriving to our town will be greeting by a mining venture almost at the entrance to the town, spoiling the view and natural look to the town, in essence you will have the town jammed between a massive mine on the west and a pit on the East..... this is also an area that has numerous wildlife tracks and interesting plants growing on it's gravel plains.... so my personal thoughts on the matter, the quarry should be situated more to the west or North West of the town, out of side and not in line with prevailing winds.....
But then again, who ever reads my reasoning........
Interesting comments about grass dying, decay etc
This is unfortunately not limited to Oranjemund. Different communities respond in different ways - some do nothing, others do lots. Is anybody in Oranjemund doing something about this? I don't people who are supposed to ... just ordinary members of the community.
Next time you are in Cape Town take a look at Keurboom Park in Rondebosch and the one in Harfield Village. Also in de Waal Park in the city bowl and Keurboom Park. These are all community efforts and by community I mean very very small groups and individuals who over time are turning round local facilities. Its really amazing what can be done.
I live next to an open space in Rondebosch and my family mowed it, cut the branches off trees (bergies etc under them) for years, with no help from others.
Its just a thought for you, Mike, but maybe there are some Oranjemunders who want to start something (it leads to some amazing community parties!).
R10 000 buys a sit-own mower. R2000 a month will buy some good lengths of irrigation piping. I'm sure some Namdeb sponsorships (and from others) can be solicited. Plenty of indigenous trees can be bought while small.
Regards to all