NATIONAL GOVERNMENT has announced plans to develop a R6-billion toll road between East London and Port Edward on the Eastern Cape border with KwaZulu/Natal. Transport Minister Dullah Omar says the aim is to have the road completed by about 2004. An environmental impact assessment and a public participation process are set to start soon, while feasibility studies on traffic volumes are already under way, according to media reports. Omar told the national cabinet that the project would bring much needed development to Eastern Cape, particularly the impoverished Wild Coast region of the Eastern Cape. The reported plan is to call on the private sector to finance, build and manage the road for 30 years, with tenders due to be issued towards the end of next year. In terms of the scheme, the existing N2 between East London and Umtata will be upgraded along with part of the road between Umtata and Port St Johns. A new stretch of road, totalling 100 km, will be built to link Port St Johns with Lusikisiki and up to Port Edward, where it will join the N2 national road through KwaZulu/Natal. The proposed project, which is being driven by the National Roads Agency, is the second attempt to construct a toll road in the region. The first, more ambitious project, was dropped in late 1997 after it emerged that it was not economically viable. Studies have shown that the full potential of the Wild Coast region, particularly in terms of tourism and developing small businesses, can be reached only with the construction of a road, according to the chief executive of the National Roads Agency, Nazir Alli. The road will form an integral part of the Wild Coast spatial development initiative, which aims to develop ecotourism nodes such as Dwesa, Coffee Bay, Port St Johns and Mkambati. Alli said the total investment in the project over 30 years was estimated at about R6 billion, with the initial construction phase expected to cost between R600 million and R800 million. “As many as 5 000 direct jobs would be created during the construction period, which could lead to about 16 000 indirect jobs,” Alli told the Business Day newspaper.